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GEO. ANDREW LEWIS, 

Founder of The Lewis Phono-Metric Method and Principal of The 

Lewis School for Stammerers. 



THE ORIGIN AND 

TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

(Sixth Edition Enlarged and Revised.) 
BY 

GEO. ANDREW LEWS 

(An inveterate Stammerer for more than twenty years.) 
FOUNDER OF 

THE LEWIS PHONO-METRIC METHOD 

Registered at patent offices in the United States and Canada. 
FOR THE PERMANENT CURE OF 

STAMMERING AND STUTTERING 

AND ALL OTHER FORMS OF IMPERFECT UT- 
TERANCE OF SPEECH AND ARTICULATION 

A practical and scientific treatise on the Cause and Treatment of Speech 
Defects with original illustrations showing the difference between mild and 
severe types of stammering. Lectures delivered before Elocutionists'" Conventions 
and Medical Societies with suggestions for treatment 



THE EXPERIENCE OF THE AUTHOR AND ENDORSEMENT OF THE 
PUBLIC 

COPYRIGHTED BY GEO. ANDREW LEWIS 



(All rights reserved.) 



76087 



Library of 



Two Copies Ri 
NOV 15 1900 

Copyright %ntry 



SECOND COPY 

Delivered to 

OfiDEH DIVISION 

NOV 25 190U 



■A 



i 






W 



,u 



DETROIT: 
PHONO-METER PRESS, 

1900. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Geo. Andrew Lewis - Frontispiece 

Author's Experience ------- 5 

Anatomical View of the Speaking Organs - - -12 

The Origin of Stammering 13 

Curable and Incurable Forms of Stammering - 33 

Child Stammering -- 52 

Diagnosis and Treatment of Obstinate Cases of Stam- 
mering ---------- 63 

Helpful Hints and Exercises 88 

Stammering — Practically, Theoretically 99 

Cause and Cure of Speech Defects - 104 

Institutional and Home Treatment - - - - 112 

The Mechanism of Speech 134 

Relations of the Body and Mind to Stammering - - 146 
Peculiarities in Stammering and How to Overcome Them 160 
Suggestions for Stammerers 175 



THE AUTHOR'S EXPERIENCE 

"Come, I will show thee an affliction 
Unnumbered among the world's sorrows." — Tupper. 

THE earliest recollection of my difficulty carries me 
back to my infancy. I can well remember my mother 
taking me to school for the first time, and, with tearful 
eyes, she told the teacher not to chastise me if I stam- 
mered, because, said she, " He cannot help it." From 
that time until my cure, I cannot remember a period in 
my whole life when I did not labor to much disadvan- 
tage because of my impediment or when I could have 
said, " I can speak." True, at times I could speak, but 
always with a mental strain, and there were many times 
when I was almost dumb. The severity of my trouble 
was heightened by the fact that some of my relatives 
were similarly afflicted, or in other words, I had inherited 
my difficulty, which made a cure, in my mind, all the 
more improbable. 

In this supposition I have since found I was correct, 
the reason being — The organism predisposed to the 
development of stammering the defect was planted in 
the pre-natal life, and, therefore, had the force of the 
unnatural condition as a part of the condition of its own 
existence. 

Several months after my mother had taken me to 
school, she passed away to a better world, after which 
time, notwithstanding my father and family tried every 
available means to lessen the severity of my trouble, I 
gradually grew worse. My father tried to break me of 
it by offers of money if I would or could repeat after him 

— 5- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

words and sentences he would speak, — in vain. My 
difficulty was rapidly developing into the most severe 
form of stuttering, a condition where, in my effort to 
speak, I placed the stress to articulate upon the wrong 
muscles, thereby causing the rapid repetition of a word 
or syllable before the following word or syllable could 
be uttered. 

This is the kind of stuttering that many persons 
mock at and mimic, many of whom have had cast upon 
their shoulders by Almighty God the weight that they 
would burden down with ridicule and jest for the poor 
unfortunate who carries it around. A most pitiable 
sight occurred to me a few days ago. A young man 
who applied for admission to my Institute told me he 
had acquired his difficulty by imitation, and notwith- 
standing the fact that he was of well-to-do parents, who 
had paid out almost a fortune in their efforts to find re- 
lief for him, he said his life had been a blank, the direct 
result of his own folly and jest. 

Let those who mock be careful. Surely the poor 
stammerer has enough to suffer without bearing the 
taunts and ridicule of the public. 

As I grew older, I naturally became more sensitive 
about my difficulty. My friends and relatives experi- 
enced and expressed great sorrow over my condition, 
which only made me suffer the more, because I knew 
that those who loved me, and whom I loved, suffered 
with me. 

Should I, by chance, be invited out of an evening 
to a reception or party, I would many times imagine it 
was for the purpose of exhibiting my affliction, which 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

now began to be accompanied by contortions, lolling 
the tongue, gasping for breath, and drawing the mus- 
cles. If not for the purpose of exhibiting my infirmity, 
then why was I asked? Certainly not because of my 
entertaining faculties, nor for my conversational abili- 
ties, and as many persons whom I knew held me up to 
mockery behind my back, and invariably avoided con- 
versation with me except by compulsion, I felt that I 
was almost alone in the world. 

True, many persons were kind to me, and thought- 
ful, considerate people spoke many kind words of hope 
and comfort to me. These were a few of the streaks of 
sunshine that stole into my life, and it is unnecessary for 
me to say those persons — may God bless them, wherever 
they are — shall never be forgotten. 

Between the age of nineteen and twenty, my diffi- 
culty began to change. That rapid repetition of words 
ceased. The outward manifestation of my trouble left 
me for a time, but the inward torture I endured was 
sometimes awful. My impediment was speedily grow- 
ing worse. In my effort to conceal my affliction, I 
rapidly developed the mental phase of a most severe 
type of stammering and added new horrors to my al- 
ready woeful life. I became almost tongue tied — 
dumb as it were, instead of rapidly repeating my sylla- 
bles, I now stood transfixed, my mouth distended like 
a funnel, my limbs slowly drawing themselves into un- 
gainly shapes, my eyes assuming the meanwhile a glassy 
appearance ; when I had labored in this condition for 
several moments, overcome by exertion and extreme 
effort, my nerves all unstrung, I would, as by lightning 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

impulse, sink back, gasp for more breath and try again 
with the same results. 

I shall never forget the evening I returned home 
from school, disgusted. Throwing my books in the 
corner, I vowed and resolved I would never return. 
What was I to do ? My father had not wealth, and I 
must soon be cast adrift to shift for myself and fight my 
own battles with the world. 

Reader, are you a stammerer? Are you a stut- 
terer? Have you ever suffered the impatience and 
ridicule of cruel and unsympathetic people? Those 
are the moments when we either grow despondent or 
desperate, according to our individual nature and tem- 
perament. 

I decided to follow the mechanical arts, and ap- 
plied myself diligently to the study of mechanics. 

My skill was soon acknowledged, and, with the offer 
of a fair salary, I left home the following year, resolved, 
if travel would reveal to me a balm for my wound, I 
would endeavor to be healed. Much advice was given 
me, and many pet theories and methods of cure urged, 
a few of which I give herewith — Hold a quill between 
the teeth ; keep a pebble under the tongue ; whistle 
just before uttering a word; take a long breath; move 
the head from side to side, and many such worthless 
and nonsensical ideas. 

For several years I continued to follow my busi- 
ness, saving money in the meantime to enable me to 
visit the East, where I understood some satisfactory 
results in cures had been achieved. The mental strain 
I had suffered and the loss of vitality in consequence 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

were rapidly making me a mental and physical wreck. 
At last I resolved to go and investigate, and resigned 
my position at Bay City, Michigan, for that purpose. I 
visited the best schools on the continent, obtaining some 
relief at an enormous expenditure of time and money. 

After hard and diligent application, I used up my 
surplus capital, and was necessarily forced to seek em- 
ployment. The relief I had obtained proved but tem- 
porary, for occasionally my old trouble would crop up 
with all its horrors, notwithstanding I continued my 
exercises regularly, although I did not begrudge the 
amount of time and money I had spent, as I felt I was 
now on the trail and would soon hunt down my antago- 
nist. 

About this time I was offered, and accepted, a posi- 
tion with I. Herzberg & Bros., wholesale and retail 
manufacturing jewelers, S. E. corner ioth and Chestnut 
streets, Philadelphia, Pa. As this store was one of 
the best appointed of its kind, in the most fashionable 
business center of the city, I felt that if I could succeed 
in entirely overcoming my impediment of speech, I 
would be of more value to them, as well as realizing 
within myself my fondest dreams and aspirations. Could 
not a method or a means of cure be devised or invented 
that would entirely and permanently eradicate every 
trace of stammering ? Surely there could, and if so, 
how many others like myself, who had obtained but 
partial relief could be set at liberty ? How many oth- 
ers, being dragged back, as by some invisible monster, 
whose claws sank deeper and deeper day by day, would 
thus be enabled to escape ? 

— 9 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

The result of my experiment and investigation 
proved more than I had expected. In the remarkably 
short period of ten days, I found that I had not only 
succeeded in entirely eradicating every vestige of my 
former difficulty, but had also evolved a method of cure 
that must sooner or later crown with new hope the sor- 
rowful lives of many disheartened stammerers. 

A new ambition seemed to cast its shadows upon 
me. I had by combining the application of my sys- 
tem, with the knowledge I had gained in the best schools 
on this continent for the correction of speech impedi- 
ments and cultivation of the voice, secured a method 
for the cure of stammering, founded upon an educational 
basis, a method for the cure of stammering, founded 
upon the scientific psychological and physiological laws 
that underlie and govern the art of perfect speech, a 
method for the cure of stammering that consists in go- 
ing back to fundamental principles, and building up the 
speech through a course of training founded on a scien- 
tific, educational basis. A method for the cure of stam- 
mering, where the pupil not only learns how to speak 
properly and perfectly, but also to govern and control 
the will power in connection with the production of per- 
fect speech which relates to the higher nerve centers 
affected as well as the control of the speaking organs. 
This means of cure, "The Lewis Phono-Metric Method," 
has the support of not only the best business and pro- 
fessional men in the country, but is also endorsed in 
the highest terms by well-known schools of Elocution 
and Voice Culture and by other institutions for the cure 
of speech impediments. 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

There is no doubt that stammering is a more seri- 
ous trouble than is generally believed, and although 
the stammerer in the past has to a large extent been 
obliged to bear with humiliation the blunt of his afflic- 
tion, public sympathy is rapidly assuming the place of 
public ridicule, and the time is not far distant when the 
cause of the stammerer will appeal to the masses in the 
same sense as the cause of other human infirmities and 
demand the recognition it deserves. The blighted 
lives, the crushed ambitions, the wail of parents in 
behalf of their children, the tears, the letters of despond- 
ency, supplications for help from every quarter of the 
civilized globe, together with the nervous and physical 
wrecks that stammering has left in its wake combine to 
prove the extent of the stammerer's helpless condition. 

I know of no other work in which I could engage to 
better prove my usefulness to mankind than that of 
treating the stammerer. Having myself for more than 
twenty years been obliged to bear the yoke, I can bet- 
ter appreciate the suffering and sorrow of others thus 
unfortunately afflicted. 

With an aim of devoting my entire future life for 
the benefit of others, I have founded my institution on 
a basis of Home and School Combined hitherto 
unapproached, and hope by the continued encourage- 
ment of success to extend to hundreds of suffering and 
disheartened stammerers a new life, crowned with new 
ambitions, one of God's greatest and most noble 
blessings, the privilege and enjoyment of perfect and 
unfettered speech. Very sincerely, 

Geo. Andrew Lewis. 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 




ANATOMICAL VIEW 

OF THE 
SPEAKING ORGANS 



i, canal from throat to middle ear ; 2, back part of nose ; 3, soft palate; 
4, soft palate covering tonsil ; 5, tonsil ; 6, base of tongue ; 7, epiglottis ; 8 , 
part of cartilage of larynx ; 9, laryngeal portion of pharynx ; 10, cavity 01 
larynx ; 11, nasal fossa? ; 12, vault of the palate, or roof of mouth ; 13, 14, 
tongue ; 15, muscle beneath tongue ; 16, hyoid bone ; 17, interior of larynx ; 
18, 19, thyroid cartilage. 



THE ORIGIN OF 

STAMMERING 



BY GEO. ANDREW LEWIS 



Lecture delivered, by invitation before the members of the Wayne County 
Medical Society, February 20, 1896, at the office and parlors of Dr. John 
E. Clark, President of the Board of Education, Detroit, Mich. 

PROBABLY no class of unfortunates seeking relief for 
an affliction has received as little benefit as the stam- 
merer. So much, that is erroneous and contradictory, 
has been written and said about stammering and its cure, 
that persons thus afflicted have become greatly confused ; 
and many who have given much time and study to the 
subject know not what to think. 

The injurious modes of treatment, resorted to by 
surgeons during the early part of the present century, 
together with the thousand-and-one or more useless 
theories, that have since been advanced for the cure of 
this difficulty by as many charlatans and humbugs have 
probably served only to make the stammerer the more 
discouraged, and have crushed his hopes of ever obtain- 
ing positive relief or permanent cure. 

I shall not attempt to go into detail and describe the 
many nonsensical ideas that stammerers from time to 

— 13 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

time have had imposed upon them by the countless 
number of " professors," whose dupes they have been 
and to whom some of them have paid large sums of 
money. Many of these persons have applied to us for 
treatment, after having been thus victimized, and have 
related to us their former experiences. One stated that 
he had been treated by correspondence and that he had 
been obliged to pay in advance for each letter of in- 
struction. Another had paid a large sum of money 
for a badly mutilated tongue. A third had been told, 
as a great secret by a traveling " professor " (for which 
he had paid well), to wash his throat out every night 
with a gargle of salt and water and sleep with a pebble 
underneath his tongue. We have his statement for it 
that he continued to do this with faithful regularity for 
more than two years. A fourth told us that he had 
been under the treatment of an advertising physician, 
and produced as evidence a bundle of prescriptions. A 
fifth had worn an electrical band around his waist, to 
which were attached wires connecting with a pocket 
battery. A sixth had unluckily fallen into the hands 
of a hypnotist, who guaranteed to cure him in a half 
hour. A seventh had been placed under a heavy 
penalty of revealing the secret, and told if she would 
move her head backwards and forwards every time she 
attempted to speak, she would in this manner open the 
glottis and the result would be a perfect and continuous 
flow of speech. 

I could go on in this manner and fill a whole vol- 
ume with the experiences of hundreds of stammerers 
who have been thus defrauded and victimized by these 

— 14 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

charlatans, from many of whom they received not one 
particle of benefit, although their experience cost them, 
in many instances, an expenditure of a great deal of 
time and money. In fact, I have arrived at the con- 
clusion that persons thus victimized are made worse 
than they were before their contemplation of treatment. 
Thus, for years and years, have been practiced differ- 
ent modes and methods for the cure of this distressing 
malady, the unfortunate sufferer finding out too late 
that he had been the victim of some dishonest quack, 
willing to take his money from him regardless of the 
benefit which he (the stammerer) should derive from 
the experience. 

Scarcely a day passes that we do not receive one or 
more letters giving a full and detailed account of former 
experiences through which stammerers thus victimized 
have passed. Many of our correspondents who have 
undergone one or more of such treatments without suc- 
cess express grave doubts as to a permanent cure. We 
never urge or offer inducements to such persons to 
undergo treatment, but rest the matter entirely with 
themselves. If our recommendations prove insufficient 
to convince them of the merits of our system, we furnish 
them with the names of a great number of persons who 
have attended our Institute or who know of the success 
of our work, and ask them to write to any or all, if they 
so desire, and ask an honest opinion concerning the re- 
liability of our treatment. 

I would dwell longer on this cause of distrust did I 
not believe that enough has already been said. 

Professor Herman Klencke, M. D., of Hanover, who 

— 15 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

conducted a school for the cure of stammering as early 
as 1840, and who was probably one of the first to de- 
nounce as quackery surgical operations and advance 
radical ideas for the treatment of stammering, very 
cleverly draws the following comparison — " Many phy- 
sicians and ' stutter doctors ' treat this disorder whose 
seat and cause they know nothing about. The proce- 
dure seems to me," continues Dr. Klencke, " like that of 
a person who would attempt to catch up with the bright 
spot which some one throws in his way by the reflec- 
tion of the sun on a mirror, and who would strive to 
tread out the spot or cover it up with his hands." 

Before entering into a discussion of the origin of 
stammering let us first consider the following definitions : 

Aristotle defined stammering as the inability to ar- 
ticulate a certain letter, and stuttering as the inability 
to join one syllable with another. 

Mr. Potter, one of the latest, defines stammering, as 
commonly used, as "a temporary inability to articulate, 
the organs being tightly held together; stuttering, as 
the repeated utterance of one sound before the next can 
be uttered, both resulting from an inability of the will 
to control the organs of speech properly, and a defi- 
ciency of a ready response to the will by the organs 
themselves." 

Again we read — " Stammering, the inability to pro- 
duce certain sounds, or the substitution of one sound 
for another." 

I quote from another authority, " Stammering is the 
result .of a functional disorder of that portion of the 
brain which presides over the faculty of speech." 

— 16 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

A number of English and American writers use the 
terms stuttering and stammering synonymously. 
Dr. Klencke draws the parallel as follows : 



STUTTERING 

ist. The Stutterer immediately be- 
gins to stutter violently when he is 
observed, and shows a spasmodic fear 
and apprehension. 

2d. He does not betray his defect 
in slow, measured declamation or in 
singing, or when talking in syllabic 
measure. 

3d. He exhibits an agitation of 
his respiratory organs and conges- 
tion of the blood in the chest and 
head, which is increased in propor- 
tion to his efforts to overcome his 
difficulty, and there appears a con- 
vulsive action of the chest, throat, 
and head. 

4th. He can correctly form all con- 
sonants as separate sounds, without 
a loud tone or in a whisper, but be- 
gins at once to stutter if he attempts 
to join certain sounds with the voice 
or with a vowel. His voice evidently 
fails by the wrong action of the 
mechanism of the muscles, respira- 
tion, and voice function. 



STAMMERING 

ist. The Stammerer usually speaks 
better when he is observed and 
thus forced to pay attention to him- 
self, and only under peculiar circum- 
stances does he show fear and appre- 
hension. 

2d. He betrays his defect when 
careless, in singing, declamation, and 
measured talking. 

3d. He never exhibits an agitation 
of his respiratory and blood circu- 
lating organs, neither nervous nor 
convulsive action, and by action of 
his will he can partly or wholly over- 
come his defect. 

4th. He does not have the least 
difficulty in the formation of his 
voice. He betrays his defect as much 
in loud talking as in whispering, 
and the combination of his defective 
sounds with the vowel meets with 
hindrance. 



In addition to the above, Dr. Klencke also gives 
the following: "Stuttering is a defect which is mani- 
fest only in talking and not in singing or declaiming. 
Its causes lie in the auxiliary organs of speech in the 
organs of respiration and vocalization, without the artic- 
ulating organs being primarily affected. 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

" Stammering, on the contrary, is a defect which is 
manifest the same in singing and declaiming as in talk- 
ing. Its causes lie in the organs between the larynx 
and the lips, in the articulating organs." 

Prof. A. Kussmaul, of Strassburg, says, in Ziems- 
sen's Cyclopedia of the Practice of Medicine, Vol. 14, 
page 633, "Stammering consists in the incapacity to 
pronounce the letters properly, while in stuttering there 
is temporarily a spasmodic inability to vocalize certain 
sounds, especially the explosive consonants." 

The above definitions are but a few of a great 
number we have been given at different times by differ- 
ent authorities. In fact, such a great number of the- 
ories have been advanced, probably for the reason that 
scarcely two persons experience this difficulty in exactly 
the same manner or under the same conditions, that 
the stammerer has been compelled to accept a con- 
glomeration of ideas, concerning the real nature of his 
malady, and grope his way in the dark in his effort to 
free himself from his unfortunate affliction. 

Stammering has been confounded with stuttering 
and vice versa, in consequence of which a multitude of 
entirely dissimilar conditions of abnormal speech have 
been neaped together and designated either stammer- 
ing or stuttering, a general cure applied, which, 
in a few cases proved successful. The entanglement 
became still more increased when the ignorance with 
regard to stuttering, under which term at one time all 
other defects of speech were included, stimulated the 
surgical craze to search for local causes. In conse- 
quence of this entanglement of ideas concerning the 

— 18 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

real causes and conditions of stammering there sprang 
forth as many ideas setting forth innumerable methods 
of treatment. I do not wish to infer that all per- 
sons thus interested were impostors, but would rather 
attribute the mistakes of many of them to ignorance of 
the true origin of the difficulty. While many errors 
were thus being made, much good was being accom- 
plished, although the stammerer's tongue oftentimes 
suffered mutilation and untold misery for crimes of 
which it was not guilty. 

The continued investigation on the part of eminent 
scientists and physicians in search for an infallible 
method of cure brought forth advanced ideas, which 
sooner or later must abolish the crude theories of early 
investigators. 

To the painstaking efforts of a few who gave almost 
their entire lives to the study of this neglected subject 
are we indebted for the fundamental principles from 
which modern methods of treatment have evolved. 
When I say modern methods of treatment I do not 
refer to the many schemes and trickeries that have 
been imposed upon the stammerer by charlatans or 
pretentious " professors," some of whom know not the 
first principle of the correct basis for voice or tone pro- 
duction, and a few of whom have amassed ill-gained 
fortunes from the unfortunates who were unlucky 
enough to fall into their clutches. I refer to the meth- 
ods of treatment and of business dealing entertained by 
a few conscientious and practical workers, who are 
endeavoring in behalf of the stammerer to not only 
crush out the trickery and deception of these undeserv- 

— 19 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

ing persons and bury the crude practices of surgery, 
but who are striving to give to their fellowmen a practical 
and thorough means of eradication for an affliction that 
is probably one of the most severe, certainly one of the 
most neglected, of all human ailments. 

In conclusion of my remarks concerning the differ- 
ence between the definitions of the terms "stammering" 
and "stuttering," I give herewith, in a single sentence, 
the concensus of opinion of the best authorities of mod- 
ern times of this country and Europe, supported by 
my own personal experience as a sufferer from a 
most severe type of stammering for more than twenty 
years. 

Stammering. The inability, under certain con- 
ditions, to articulate, or control the organs of speech, 
which are usually, under such circumstances, tightly 
held together, accompanied in many cases, by the sub- 
stitution of one sound for another. 

Stuttering. A defect in respiration and vocal- 
ization, oftentimes causing spasmodic action or the 
rapid repetition of one word or syllable before the fol- 
lowing one can be uttered. 

The former is due to a deficiency or lack of exer- 
cise and control of mental energy of the will over the 
organs of utterance, and is usually accompanied by 
contorting the features, rolling the eyes, or drawing the 
limbs. The latter, due to an improper manner of 
breathing and vocalization, is usually accompanied by 
spasmodic actions of not only the speaking organs, but 
oftentimes the whole body becomes violently convulsed 
and contorted. 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

Having thus considered the definitions of stammer- 
ing and stuttering, let us now enter into and discuss the 
real origin or primary cause of this difficulty. If you 
will follow me closely, I will endeavor to carry you with 
me through a practical and scientific investigation, and 
locate, if possible, the real source and origin of stammer- 
ing. I shall confine my statements wholly to my own 
practical views on the subject, gathered from years of 
careful study of recognized authorities and from contact 
with many persons thus afflicted, both before and since 
my cure. 

We have already determined that stammering is an 
impediment of the speech. Let us consider. What is 
speech? Tupper has very appropriately said, "Speech 
is the golden harvest that followeth the flowering of 
thought." 

Speech may also be considered a means of convey- 
ance. I might quote many definitions for this term, 
but do not think it necessary. It conveys to us by the 
most direct means the thoughts of men, and is probably 
the most important instrument God has given to us. 
Let us then trace it to its origin, and, by breaking it up 
into different elements, analyze it to discover, if possible, 
the original cause of the stammerer's difficulty. 

FIRST 

Ideas are received, arising either from immediate 
sensations, or originating in the brain in an abstract 
manner, and are arranged in proper succession by that 
organ. 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

SECOND 

The will determines to give this train of ideas ex- 
pression in any way it can. So far, the process of action 
can be called only mental. 

THIRD 

The stimulation to action of the motive nervous 
system connected with the speaking organs. 

FOURTH 

The motive nervous system thus stimulated gener- 
ates to action the vocal apparatus resulting in articulate 
speech. 

Each step is, of course, tributary to the preceding 
one and as long as all act in harmony, one with another, 
fluent speech and perfect articulation are the result. 

The question now arises, where in this chain do we 
find the deficiency that manifests itself in the stam- 
merer? Let us go back and discuss the first element 
considered. 

To argue that the elaboration of thought in the brain 
of the stammerer is deficient and its arrangement for 
production unsystematic is to argue that the stammerer, 
intellectually speaking, is not only weak minded, but 
also lacking of intelligence. Do we find this to be the 
case? The fact that many of the brightest and brainest 
men of ancient and modern times have suffered from 
stammering is conclusive evidence that stammering is 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

not due at least to any lack of intellectual power on the 
part of the person thus afflicted. 

History tells us of many notable persons who have 
stammered. 

It is announced that Louis II. of France and 
Michael II. were both surnamed Le Begue, meaning 
stammerer. Louis XIII. of France was also a stam- 
merer. The Rev. Canon Kingsley was a stam- 
merer. Charles Lamb was a stutterer, and the notable 
physicians, Viosin, Palmer, Chegoin, Merkel, Guil- 
laume, D'Alais, Bacquerel, and Cohen were all stam- 
merers, ^sop, Virgil, and Demosthenes were likewise 
afflicted. Mrs. Inchbold, the famous English actress, 
was another who triumphed over a difficulty of speech. 
Mahomet-el-Rasser, King of Spain ; Eric, King of 
Sweden; Admiral Annebant; Tahtaglia, the Italian 
engineer ; Bossy d' Anglas, the painter ; Daird ; the 
critic Hoffman ; Camille Desmoulins, celebrated French 
revolutionist and journalist, and Martin F. Tupper, the 
celebrated English poet, all suffered from stammering 
as did also the Hon. Wm. A. Graham, United States 
Senator and Governor of North Carolina in 1850. 
Allusions to this disorder are found also in the Bible. 
Moses was a notable example. The Ephraimites, and 
those whom Jesus cured of their impediments of speech. 

Having thoroughly satisfied ourselves that the 
defect is not manifest in the first element of speech, let 
us proceed to and consider the second. — The will 
determines to give this train of ideas expression in any 
way it can. — Is the desire to give utterance by physical 
act to internal thought in any way necessarily lacking 

— 23 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

in the stammerer originally? If so, the defect must 
arise from either excessive or deficient energy or desire, 
in which case we would find that the stammerer, dur- 
ing infancy, before speech is complete, would be wholly 
unable to cry. It uses this means of making known its 
wants, and if the defect originated from a deficient or 
excessive mental desire, we would find this child, when 
it attempted to make known its wants, would not only 
be wholly unable to do so, but would, through its 
efforts, betray all the symptoms of a stammerer. We 
usually find, however, that the stammerer as a child 
does not betray the symptoms of his affliction. It is 
not until a more complex action is thrown upon his 
motive powers that his defect is noticeable. 

Let us consider the third. — The stimulation to 
action of the motive nervous system connected with the 
speaking organs. — [My belief is that here in this medium, 
which might appropriately be termed The mental 
energy of the will acting on the accumulated nervous 
force of the motor organism of the body, exists the 
original cause of abnormal speech. I believe that there 
exists in some persons an idiosyncrasy amounting 
probably to an irritability or sensibility of fibre in that 
portion of the brain which controls the motions 
requisite for the production of speech, and that this pe- 
culiarity exposes this portion of the brain to be most 
easily disarranged with the result that the organs co-op- 
erating are thrown into spasmodic action by the ordi- 
nary mental desire to speak. The peculiarity would 
appear to me rather a difference in sensibility than in 
structure, from the circumstance that very many fluent 

— 24 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

speakers if not all persons are, in a measure, liable to 
the affection. Very powerful causes, such as horror, 
excessive perplexity, or shame will, under some cir- 
cumstances, partially paralyze or convulse the power of 
speech in ordinary persons. The great distinction, 
however, being that the stammerer requires but a 
slight cause to overturn the balance of his machinery 
of speech, while the ordinary individual would require 
some extreme cause, such as seldom occurs, to affect 
his fluency, and even then can easily recover again by 
the exercise of his will and reasoning faculties. 

Having by this analysis detected what would ap- 
pear to be the weak point, let us now proceed to the 
fourth element and find if there, too, exists any de- 
ficiency that would cause stammering. You will at 
once agree that there is not the slightest ground for the 
supposition that stammering is in any way attributable 
to physical defect or direct . physical inaction of the 
vocal apparatus. The effect of the difficulty experi- 
enced by the stammerer is, of course, manifest to the 
observer principally in the organs of speech, yet the 
real cause of the malady is of a more obscure origin 
and by no means attributable to malformation of the 
speaking organs. 

From an experience of meeting many hundred 
stammerers, I have as yet never found one case where 
the difficulty was attributable to wrongly formed organs 
of speech. The fact that the stammerer can sometimes 
sing without the slightest difficulty, can oftentimes read 
aloud to himself without the least fear of hesitation, and 
can at times speak perfectly words that give him the 

— 25 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

greatest difficulty generally, is sufficient evidence in 
proof of the above assertion. I do not wish to infer 
that the stammerer is any different in this respect from 
other persons. Because he stammers, it does not fol- 
low that his organs of speech are perfect, but he is no 
more likely to suffer from malformation of the organs 
of speech than are persons not afflicted with stam- 
mering. 

I scarcely think it necessary to offer any further 
argument in support of my statement that the real 
origin of the stammerer's difficulty is found in the third 
element considered. For abstract mind to act on ab- 
stract bodily organs, it is necessary that there be a 
medium. In this medium, I believe, exists, the real 
origin of the stammerer's difficulty. Though hesitation 
is only a thing of degree from the most fluent speaker 
down to the most convulsed stammerer, yet practically 
speaking, stammering does not begin until hesitation 
has arrived at such a pitch that the sufferer, by the 
exercise of his reasoning faculties, cannot collect him- 
self and become master of the situation. 

The reason that many children do not betray the 
affliction of stammering until they have attained the age 
of boyhood, is because in early life the mental desire is 
not excessive. It is probably the same as in any other 
child endeavoring to be understood. As life advances, 
mental power develops, and when the child has become 
sufficiently old to use its mental functions to any de- 
gree, it discovers an inability to express itself, either 
from hesitancy or convulsive action. This difficulty is 
owing to the disturbance of mental emotion, the child 

— 26 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

through original physical weakness* not being able to 
bear more than the ordinary stimulus of the mind and 
will without betraying its defect. During the earlier 
days of its childhood, the mental activity was not as 
great, and hence the child stammered but little or 
probably not at all. 

The attention of the child is continually attracted to 
this peculiarity, which soon becomes second nature to 
it, and added to the original physical weakness, the 
constantly increasing mental emotion soon overbalances 
the equilibrium of control, and although the original 
physical weakness may almost entirely disappear as the 
child advances in age, yet the difficulty of stammering 
remains. 

It is an impossibility to determine, in any case of 
stammering, the exact amount of excess of mental emo- 
tion or deficiency of motive power. 

Arguing from a supposition that these two influ- 
ences, mental emotion and motive power, equally dis- 
tributed would give to a person the ability to converse 
without hesitation under ordinary circumstances, I will 
endeavor to demonstrate by means of bodies of com- 
parative sizes the difference between mild and severe 
types of stammering. 



* There appears to exist in many stammerers a condition predisposed to the 
development of the defect. This idiosyncrasy exposes the brain fibre to easy 
disarrangement, and the organs co-operating are thrown into spasmodic ac- 
tion by the ordinary mental desire to speak. 



— 27- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 



No. i 

This body represents a person who can talk 
without hesitation under ordinary circum- 
stances. If confronted with embarrassment, 
excitement, shame, or perplexity, mental emo- 
tion would increase to a degree sufficient to 
overbalance motive power, resulting in hesita- 
tion, stammering, or convulsive action. 




No. 2 

This body represents a stammerer wholly 
unable to control himself under ordinary cir- 
cumstances. 




No. 3 

This body represents a person who con- 
tinually suffers from hesitation or who is 
addicted to stammering in a slight degree. 




No. 4 

This body represents a most violent and 
severe form of stammering, oftentimes accom- 
panied by dreadful contortions of the face and 
convulsive action of the muscles and limbs. 




No. 5 

This body represents the ordinary individ- 
ual. Such a person would hesitate only under 
extreme excitement, and would rarely if ever 
lose control of his speech. 



28- 




THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 



No. 6 




This body represents unusual ability to 
speak with confidence under the most trying 
test or circumstances, without the slightest 
uneasiness or apprehension of imperfect ut- 
terance. 



The illustrations herewith presented represent but 
four different classes or degrees of stammering. There 
will be found to exist as many different degrees of 
stammering as there are individuals afflicted, as scarcely 
two persons can be found who experience difficulty in 
exactly the same manner. The influences, too, that 
cause the stammerer to betray his defect may be en- 
tirely different. One person will invariably stammer 
when brought into the presence of strangers, but never 
experience much difficulty among the members of his 
own household. Another will scarcely, if ever, betray 
his defect before strangers, but will invariably stammer 
when in conversation with immediate friends. One 
person can speak from a platform to a public audience 
after he has once entered into his subject, the great 
difficulty being in getting started. Another is able to 
begin without the slightest apparent difficulty, but will 
continually stammer when he gets warmed up to the 
occasion. 

While it may be impossible to analyze the different 
phenomena of innumerable cases of this kind, we can 
without difficulty draw a parallel between two distinct 
and separate classes, I will call these for brevity and 
illustration: 

— 29 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 



A 

THE PHYSICAL TYPE 



B 

THE MENTAL TYPE 



The former (A) is comparatively but little compli- 
cated with mental emotion, while on the other hand the 
latter (B) has probably lost much of the original phys- 
ical weakness, but from the overbalance of the equilib- 
rium or control, suffers materially from mental 
emotion and is easily agitated and made worse. Some 
cases of the mental type, however, retain much of the 
original physical defect. 

The nature of the former is almost entirely due to 
lack of motive power or original physical weakness, 
while the nature of the latter is almost entirely mental, 
the result of continually increasing and decreasing men- 
tal emotion. Stammerers who come under the denomi- 
nation of Class A are troubled continually, more or less, 
never much better, never much worse, always about the 
same. Excitement, shame, perplexity, anxiety, embar- 
rassment, or impaired health does not much increase the 
severity of their affliction, while on the other hand 
stammerers who might be designated as belonging to 
Class B experience during certain periods and while 
under certain conditions, scarcely any difficulty, but 
when suddenly confronted with excitement, shame, 
perplexity, anxiety, or when suffering from fatigue, ex- 
haustion, or impaired health, they invariably stammer 
and sometimes violently. 

Mr. A has the ability to address a public audience 
with as little trouble as he might experience when read- 
ing aloud to himself, while Mr. B could read aloud to 

— 3 o — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

himself with perfect ease and composure, but when 
called upon to speak publicly, owing to his stronger 
mental emotions, would be wholly unable to do so with- 
out betraying his impediment to a very great extent. 

The different peculiarities of stammering manifested 
in persons belonging to either class would fill several 
complete volumes. The constant apprehension of fear 
on the subject of speaking entertained by the stammerer 
keeps his nerves continually in a state of agitation and 
unrest. His anxiety to speak fluently, the dread and 
fear that he may not be able to do so, together with the 
humiliation of an exhibition of his infirmity combine to 
increase the severity of his affliction. Many persons 
believe that stammering is the result of nervousness, 
but a second thought would, I think, convince them 
that nervousness is more often the result of stammering. 
This has been my experience, and the proof is evident 
from the fact that when the stammerer has gained con- 
trol of his speaking organs, his nervousness has almost 
entirely disappeared. Having become master of the 
situation, there is not the least fear or apprehension on 
the subject of speaking, and thus the one great agi- 
tator of his nervous system having been removed, 
gradually the nerves settle back to a normal condition 
of rest giving the once nervous and prostrated sufferer 
complete self-control. 

Persons who stutter, usually suffer only in a slight 
degree from an excess of mental emotion typical with 
the stammerer. 

The physical weakness of the stutterer may almost 
entirely disappear and yet the stuttering habit remain, 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

owing to recollection, carelessness, force of habit, and 
association. 

The origin of stuttering is not generally attributable 
to the same source as the origin of stammering, and 
stuttering is more easily conquered and subdued. This 
is explained by the fact that when the original physical 
weakness of the stammerer disappears, we have left the 
mental phase of the difficulty to contend with, while 
with the stutterer, we have but to correct an improper 
mode of respiration and vocalization, strengthen and 
develop the vocal and respiratory organs and gain an 
equilibrium of control. This accomplished, we have 
established a foundation upon which to build a cure. 

The diagnosis and symptoms of a number of cases 
that have come under my observation would indicate 
that not a few persons who stammer and who suffer 
from excessive mental emotion have also acquired 
peculiar forms of stuttering. In their strained and 
labored efforts to give utterance to certain syllables or 
words, they have unconsciously acquired an improper 
mode of breathing. Losing control of their respiratory 
organs, they become wholly unable to vocalize certain 
sounds, their efforts resulting in contraction or convul- 
sive action. 

Whatever may be the outward manifestation of 
stammering or stuttering, one who has not passed 
through the ordeal can form no conception of the mental 
torture endured by persons who are thus unfortunately 
afflicted. 



— 32 



CURABLE AND INCURABLE 
FORMS OF STAMMERING 



BY GEO. ANDREW LEWIS 



Paper read before the Michigan Association of Elocutionists at Ann Arbor 
Michigan, January gth, 1897. 

MANY persons appear to think that the term Stam- 
mering is synonymous with Stuttering, and that all forms 
of imperfect speech accompanied by convulsive action 
or emotion are similar in type. In other words, they do 
not seem to realize that there is a difference of form in 
stammering, but regard all forms as stammering, and 
under this head classify as one many different types. 
While it may in a general way be correct to classify all 
under one head, yet, professionally speaking, there are 
almost as may different types of stammering as there 
are types of man, and each one has its own peculiar 
phenomenon. 

Before entering into a discussion of different forms, 
it might be well to make a division or classification. 

3 —33 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 
STAMMERING AND STUTTERING 

While we all know that stammering as generally 
accepted embraces both of these forms, yet each has 
a distinct and separate meaning and can again be 
subdivided and admits of numerous classifications. 
Stammering is more often inherited, the result of a 
predisposed condition ; while stuttering, which closely 
resembles it, takes it origin through nervous weakness. 
However, this is not always the case, as stuttering is 
oftentimes converted or allowed to develop into stam- 
mering. Stammering is almost wholly a disease of the 
mind or a mental condition, while on the other hand, 
stuttering is generally due to an improper manner of 
respiration or of syllabication, and is largely an acquired 
or physical condition. When I state that stuttering is 
sometimes converted into stammering, I mean that a 
physical condition becomes a mental one. Stuttering 
is generally accompanied with more dreadful facial con- 
tortions and convulsive action of the limbs than stam- 
mering, and it is partly for this reason (owing to such 
intense agony and humiliation over the exhibition of his 
infirmity) that his case develops into stammering. The 
fatigue, worry, and exhaustion makes his condition a 
mental one. Sometimes we have to deal with cases of 
this kind that are under process of evolution, and which 
we term 

COMBINED STAMMERING AND STUTTERING 

Stammering never evolves into stuttering, but, as 
already demonstrated, stuttering, if neglected, oftentimes 

— 34 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

becomes stammering. Persons who suffer from a type 
of combined stammering and stuttering usually manifest 
a wrong mode of respiration, are addicted in a slight 
degree to the rapid repetition of their words and sylla- 
bles, and yet oftentimes are wholly unable to raise their 
voice to express a word. My intention is to present to 
you a number of the most important forms of stammer- 
ing that are curable and a few that are incurable. 

STUTTERING 

The stutterer no doubt is responsible for all the rid- 
icule that is heaped upon the stammerer and for all the 
mirth that some people seem to enjoy over his sad con- 
dition. He invariably repeats his words or syllables in 
rapid and quick succession, and oftentimes resorts to 
various physical movements, apparently to aid him in 
his efforts. He pulls chairs, slaps or pounds himself, 
involuntarily, rolls his eyes, and contorts his features. 
Strange to say, I have known some stutterers of this 
type who proved the most susceptible to treatment, and 
were entirely cured in an incredibly short time. This 
can only be accounted for from the fact that the diffi- 
culty was largely of the physical type, and had little if 
any mental complication. With obedience to instruc- 
tions on the part of the patient, and with an ordinary 
amount of intelligence, any case of stuttering is curable. 

STAMMERING 

It can be said of the stammerer that he is generally 
unable to make a beginning. He knows what he wants 

~35 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

to say, but is unable to utter a sound. As already ex- 
plained, his defect is rather one of the mind than of the 
speech, the organs of speech merely acting as an out- 
ward manifestation of an abnormal condition of the 
brain. 

STAMMERING FROM HEREDITY 

Probably the most severe form of stammering, and 
one of the most difficult to successfully manipulate, is 
that which comes from heredity. Such cases are not 
by any means rare, as a great number of those with 
which we have to deal originate from this source. There 
is not the least doubt but that a disposition toward 
stammering can be inherited and transmitted from one 
generation to another, and, in this connection, I will say 
that I know of one family in which no less than sixteen 
persons are addicted to stammering. This number em- 
braces brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, and cousins, and 
nearly every one of them are troubled similarly. Cases 
of hereditary stammering in one family rarely bear the 
same manifestations. The father may be addicted to 
stuttering of a most violent form, and his son afflicted 
with a type of stammering that would appear to the ob- 
server entirely different. Wherever persons in one fam- 
ily are addicted to stammering, we rarely find two who 
stammer similarly. In hereditary stammering, we have 
a condition of the mind that in the beginning is abnor- 
mal and which requires mental training and discipline 
to thoroughly eradicate. Cases of hereditary stammer- 
ing are common and with proper treatment and care, 
can be entirely overcome. 

-36- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

It is generally supposed that stammering itself can 
be inherited. This, however, is a wrong supposition. 
A condition, or disposition, favorable to the develop- 
ment of stammering can be inherited, but stammering 
itself cannot be inherited. If stammering could be 
transmitted from one generation to another we would 
find that children disposed to stammer would exhibit 
their defect at their earliest infancy. This we rarely 
find, and, in fact, never unless the child so disposed be 
surrounded with stammering parents and stammering 
influences. On the contrary, we find in the majority 
of cases, that the child stammerer (even where its in- 
firmity is said to be due to heredity) does not com- 
mence to stammer when it first begins to talk, or, in 
other words, its stammering does not begin until after 
it has acquired a perfectly correct and natural manner 
of talking. 

It is said that consumption cannot be inherited. One 
can be favorably disposed to the development of this 
dread disease, and the disposition towards it can exist 
in a whole family. Yet with proper climatic changes 
and otherwise, a means can often be had to entirely 
prevent its ravages. It can, in fact, be so guarded that 
all danger, or, at least, danger to a reasonable degree, is 
wholly warded off. What otherwise would have been 
a complete wreck can sometimes with care from the 
beginning be made a robust constitution. This also 
is true of stammering. From its earliest infancy sur-. 
round the child who has inherited a disposition to 
stammer with persons who talk well, never unduly 
excite it, never tickle it, avoid for it every possible 

— 37 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

form of sickness accompanied by fever, never subject it 
to shame or ridicule, or otherwise place it in an embar- 
rassing position, take it away from every stammering 
influence and from every person who stammers, allow 
it to acquire correct articulation and a correct manner of 
speaking from observation, listening, and mimicry, and 
look carefully after its health. After it has attained its 
tenth year guard its morals and habits until its six- 
teenth year. Feed it on wholesome, plain diet and have 
it take plenty of out-of-door exercise. After you have 
done all this you can in nine cases out of ten make a per- 
fect talker out of what otherwise would prove a case of 
inherited stammering, but which, if properly taken care 
of from the beginning, can be largely prevented and in 
the majority of cases entirely overcome. 



STAMMERING FROM FRIGHT 

While, personally, I know of but few cases that owe 
their origin to fright, yet statistics prove that such cases 
frequently occur. I have within my recollection a few 
cases of this kind, and have generally found that they 
are of a milder form than other cases of which I have 
spoken. However, among cases of this kind, I remem- 
ber an extremely difficult one. The parents of the boy 
told me that during his early childhood, he had fallen 
s upon a splinter, which cut his mouth badly and tore 
away a portion of his tongue. The nervous shock and 
fright thereby occasioned had caused the child to stam- 
nr j, and it was only after a long and persistent treat- 

- 3 8- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

ment that we succeeded in entirely overcoming his 
difficulty. It has been claimed that stammering caused 
by fright is one of the most difficult forms to cure, but 
from my own experience in the matter, such has not 
been the case. 

STAMMERING CAUSED BY SICKNESS 

We not infrequently meet with cases of stammering 
that began after severe illness. It might be well to state 
here that in every such case, the sickness occasioning 
the difficulty was accompanied with high fever, diph- 
theria, scarlet fever, typhoid fever, mumps, measles, 
bronchitis, etc., etc. The circumstance that it is only in 
cases of sickness accompanied with delirium that we 
have the manifestations of stammering would seem to 
indicate that the fever was wholly responsible for this 
uncontrollable condition, and largely responsible for the 
permanent injury effected. We find stammering follow- 
ing severe illness only where the latter is of a feverish 
nature, which would appear to strengthen my argument 
that stammering is a disease of the mind. Persons who 
attribute their stammering to illness sometimes find, 
upon investigation, that their organism was predisposed 
to the development of their defect. Although some of 
their ancestors suffered before them from the defect, 
they probably would never have suffered but for an ill- 
ness which lowered their vitality, exhausted their en- 
ergy, and which gave their predisposed condition an 
opportunity to assert and manifest itself. In the be- 
ginning their motive power to act was not excessive, 

— 39 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

but sufficient to establish an equilibrium of control. 
Through illness, the vital energy becoming reduced, 
their motive power of action became deficient. The 
equilibrium of control once overthrown, offered an ex- 
cellent opportunity for the rapid development of their 
inherited condition. This form of stammering is gener- 
ally very susceptible to successful treatment. 

STAMMERING FROM MIMICRY 

My experience has been that fully 25 per cent, of 
persons who stammer have either acquired their difficulty 
at the beginning from mimicry, or have unconsciously 
fallen into the habit through association with other 
persons thus afflicted. At first, the habit manifests itself 
much after the form of stuttering, which, as explained 
in the beginning, afterwards terminates in stammering. 
In my experience I have been in communication with 
many thousand persons who stammer and have person- 
ally met a great number. From what they have told 
me in their letters, and from what I have learned of 
their cases, a large percentage can attribute their diffi- 
culty only to mimicry or to association with other per- 
sons so afflicted. Such cases usually rapidly develop 
during childhood and become chronic as the individual 
advances in years. You will remember that each case 
I have cited has been due to some mental disturbance, 
excepting probably that form which comes from mim- 
icry. This generally is not a form of stammering, but 
becomes stammering through worry and continued 
mental agitation of the sufferer. All cases of stammer- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

ing are either the result of a predisposed condition, are 
an evolutionized form of stuttering, or are the result of 
extreme mental effort or agitation. Many children just 
learning to talk are made to stammer by overtaxing 
their mental faculties. The parents, noticing the par- 
ticularly clear enunciation of the child, endeavor to have 
it recite long sentences and pronounce extremely dim- 
cult words, with the result that this practice is often the 
beginning of stammering. A child should never be 
tickled or in other ways made to laugh too heartily. 
There is a place to draw the line, and parents should 
avoid making their little ones overstep the boundary. 
I quote from Professor Hermann Klencke: "Stam- 
mering is not independent ; it is not a disease by itself. 
It is nothing that a person can have alone and be well 
in other respects. It is in every case a symptom, only 
a reflex action of a predominating mental and physical 
disease." 

In this I think Professor Klencke is correct. We 
have many different forms and types of stammering, but 
rarely find a case that is not accompanied with an ab- 
normal condition of the vital force and a consequent 
functional nervous derangement, the perverse action of 
innervation and muscle. Cases of stammering attribu- 
table to mimicry are generally not difficult to cure, as 
the condition is largely an acquired or physical one, 
and has but little of the mental complication. 

Speaking of different forms of stammering, probably 
the most severe type, barring the inherited condition, is 
what might properly be termed constitutional stammer- 
ing. 

— 41^ 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 



CONSTITUTIONAL STAMMERING 

This form of stammering usually accompanies a 
weakened condition of the whole system, and may be 
due to overgrowth or by reason of an insufficient supply 
of vital force. Such persons suffer from general nervous 
debility, nervous trembling, and weakness of the whole 
organism. It requires, in addition to the regular course 
of treatment, the building up of health and the strength- 
ening of the constitution. This can sometimes be ac- 
complished in an auxiliary way by medical aid, but 
preferably by physical and gymnastic exercises. 

INTERMITTENT STAMMERING 

Intermittent stammering is a form of constitutional 
stammering, where the severity of the affliction alternates 
in direct ratio with the health or physical condition of 
the afflicted. For instance, these persons find, when 
their physical condition is good, that they experience 
but little difficulty, but, on the contrary, when their 
physical condition is poor, they stammer badly. Some- 
times for two weeks they will barely stammer once, while 
during the following fortnight they will stammer con- 
tinually and oftentimes dreadfully. In the treatment of 
intermittent or constitutional stammering, particular 
stress should be laid upon diet and exercise. It has 
been said of stammering that it is only a species of 
moral cowardice, arising from physical weakness. This 
is no doubt largely true in cases of constitutional stam- 
mering. If we improve the physique in every possible 

— 42 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

way, we restore the natural bravery of the sufferer. 
Let him retire early and rise early ; take plenty of exer- 
cise in the open air and undergo at the same time a 
systematic course of gymnastic training indoors, under 
the direction of a competent instructor for the develop- 
ment of his weakened muscles and organs. This aids 
largely to a successful treatment, and with obedience to 
instructions, both for his natural defect and for his 
health, will surely accomplish the desired object. 

NERVOUS STAMMERING AND STUTTERING 

While all forms of stammering and stuttering are 
accompanied by nervousness, yet in the majority of 
cases the accompanying nervousness is due to stammer- 
ing, and not, as generally supposed, stammering due to 
nervousness. Remove the stammering and the nerv- 
ousness disappears. However, we have in a few in- 
stances met cases where the nervousness was a part of 
the man. Professor Klencke says, "This kind of stam- 
mering is the hardest to cure and the most common." 
While I take exception to Professor Klencke concern- 
ing its being the most common, yet I cannot say but 
that it is one of the hardest forms with which we have 
to deal. It bears a resemblance to certain forms of St. 
Vitus dance, and is influenced by changes of circum- 
stances, changes of weather, is worse in the mornings 
than in the afternoons, and is accompanied with facial 
contortions, active mind, irritable temperament, and 
lively fancy with forebodings of failure. Notwithstand- 
ing the obstinacy of this form of stammering, we have 
never failed in our efforts to overcome it. 

— 43 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 



STAMMERING FROM AN IMPROPER MODE 
OF RESPIRATION 

There is no doubt but that many types of stammer- 
ing are accompanied by an improper mode of respira- 
tion, yet in the majority of instances we find that cases 
of stuttering are more often associated with this defect 
than are cases of stammering. However, stammerers 
of this class are quite numerous. Their chest is usually 
flat; a deep breath will cause them to cough or gasp. 
They are averse to contact with strangers and are 
usually moody and listless. This form of stammering 
yields readily to treatment. 

STAMMERING OF THE MIND 

Stammering of the mind appears as a form that 
takes its origin where hesitation is developing into 
stammering, and where it is difficult for the sufferer to 
control his speech by means of exercising his will or 
reasoning faculties. Such persons are oftentimes termed 
flighty. They enter into any undertaking at once with 
spirited enthusiasm, and abandon it as readily. They 
are whimsical and erratically engage in every undertak- 
ing. Their ideas travel faster than they are physically 
able to execute their thoughts, which not only enters 
into their everyday life, but is also largely mani- 
fest in their conversation. They begin to talk and 
before they have finished one word, they begin the 
syllable of the word following. Before they have made 
sense of one sentence, they begin another on probably 

— 44 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

some entirely different topic. Their words are discon- 
nected and their sentences are slurred. When they are 
closely observed by persons of superior position and 
rank, they become confused and talk in a disconnected 
and illogical manner. With the strictest discipline, 
their difficulty can be entirely overcome. 

STAMMERING THROUGH NEGLECT 

There is not the slightest doubt, but that a few per- 
sons who stammer or stutter have gradually allowed the 
difficulty to grow upon them. They do not realize the 
importance of correct articulation, and allow themselves 
to hesitate, mispronounce, and slur their syllables. Of 
course, in the beginning it is nothing more than hesita- 
tion, but what when they have lost the moral mastery 
over it, and, through habit, it has become securely 
fastened to them, not to be shaken off. These cases 
are common, and are worthy of attention. As difficulty 
of this kind is largely of the acquired or habitual char- 
acter, it can, with proper treatment, be entirely eradi- 
cated. 

THE SENSITIVE STAMMERER 

All stammerers are more or less sensitive. The 
majority of them are more, and I have known a few who 
were less. As a stammerer, I was extremely sensitive 
over my infirmity and remember once having severely 
punished a young fellow who imitated my contortions. 
They do not want you to speak of their affliction, and 
must be approached in a very cautious manner. Of all 

— 45 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

classes of afflicted humanity, I think the stammerer is 
the most sensitive. Among them there is a form of the 
difficulty that is accompanied with an extremely sensitive 
temperament. We do not find that this makes the case 
less responsive to treatment, as the stammering disap- 
pears with the sensitiveness when the patient is put un- 
der treatment. 

NASAL STAMMERING 

Just at this point I wish to call your attention to a 
form of this difficulty which might properly be termed 
nasal stammering. This kind of stammering is not by 
any means rare, and has generally been considered as 
not the easiest type to cure. The sufferer, instead of 
allowing his words to pass out through the mouth in the 
natural manner, throws his head back and forth with 
convulsive action. There is a peculiar nasal sound, and 
the air, which should pass through the mouth, is forced 
out through the nostrils, giving the words an unnatural 
and rather disagreeable utterance. All forms of nasal 
stammering can be readily overcome and entirely 
eradicated. 

SILENT STAMMERING 

Silent stammering is common, and is often termed 
" Stoppage in Speech." There is no facial effort or 
other observable indication of speaking. The effort is 
wholly a mental one, — not even the expression of the 
eye or a muscle of the face indicating the struggle 

- 4 6- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

within. The word, when it does come, is often mis- 
pronounced or pronounced in an incoherent manner. 
If allowed to repeat the sentence, the speaker will 
pronounce his words perfectly, but usually it requires 
several consecutive trials. When you ask him a ques- 
tion suddenly, if embarrassed he will stand perfectly 
transfixed, unable to utter a word. This form or type 
of stammering has many peculiar and interesting phe- 
nomena in connection with it, and often enters into 
various other combinations. It can be entirely over- 
come with proper mental training in addition to the 
general course of treatment. 

BOISTEROUS STAMMERING 

Contrasted with the silent stammerer, we have the 
boisterous stammerer. This man tangles up his words 
in a most fearful manner, gasps for breath, utters various 
hissing and gurgling sounds, and throws himself con- 
stantly back and forth, or from side to side, stammers 
often, contorts his features and muscles, and otherwise 
makes himself generally obnoxious. While this form 
of stammering is apparently severe, yet it oftentimes 
happens that it is very easy to cure. 

CONTINUED STAMMERING 

While all forms and types of stammering are to a 
greater or less degree continued, yet there is a distinct 
form which can be described only under this heading. 
The continued stammerer is an . inveterate stammerer. 

— 47 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

He always stammers and stammers always. There is no 
change in his manner of stammering from one year's 
end to the other, or even from one day to the next. 
Unlike the intermittent stammerer, he never experiences 
spells when he talks easily and when he talks worse. 
Climatic changes, changes of health, excitement or 
embarrassment do not enhance the severity of his im- 
pediment. He has no particular words or sounds that 
give him great difficulty, but all words and all sounds 
bother him equally. He is not insensitive, yet he is 
not as sensitive as persons of the intermittent class. 
Such cases of stammering are rare, and I have met 
comparatively few of them in my experience. How 
ever, those I have come in contact with have been en> 
tirely successful in overcoming their defect. 

THE DESPONDENT OR SORROWFUL STAMMERER 

All stammerers are despondent at times, and the 
majority of them are sorrowful, but there is one class 
among them always despondent and always sorrowful. 
They appear to carry around with them the burdens 
of the whole world. They are moody and whimsi- 
cal, their spirits rarely rise above a certain level. That 
level is the point where sorrow can be turned into 
joy. George Eliot, speaking of the secret sorrow, says, 
"These things are often unknown to the world, for 
there is much pain that is quite noiseless. Many an 
inherited sorrow that has marred a life has been 
breathed into no human ear." They are not always 
burdening you with their cares and troubles, but appear 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

to prefer to suffer in silence. They talk but little, 
probably because they are unable to talk well. Occa- 
sionally you will come upon one who, unlike the others 
of his type, will continually seek to tell you of all his 
cares. He rarely, if ever, tells you anything of a 
cheerful nature, and is not much interested in anything 
cheerful you may tell him, but talk to him of any- 
thing sorrowful and he is at once interested. It reminds 
him of something he has heard before, but the tale he 
will tell you will be the more sorrowful of the two. 
Such persons usually require rigid discipline, and should 
ever be encouraged in that which is cheerful and never 
provoked. 

INCURABLE FORMS OF STAMMERING 

Two gentlemen called upon me less than a month 
ago with a young man, stating that they wished to place 
him under treatment for stammering. They had been 
referred to me by one of the hospitals of Detroit. After 
making numerous inquiries of the father, I addressed 
my conversation to the boy. I asked him how old he 
was. He replied that he didn't know. "Why, yes, you 
do," said the father, "you're thirteen," and the boy 
shook his head. I inferred that the boy was unable to 
say thirteen, and asked him again to tell me how old he 
was. He still shook his head and refused to reply. 
Notwithstanding the requests of his father and my earn- 
est solicitations, nothing could induce the fellow to say 
thirteen. He would not even make the attempt. I have 
no doubt but that he could have said it with extreme 

4 —49 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

effort, and explained to him that I wished him to try, in 
order that I might gain a better knowledge of his diffi- 
culty, but to no effect. The young man was unusually 
large of his age, and might have been taken for a boy of 
eighteen. His father took me into an adjoining room 
and told me that the boy had a large pocket knife in his 
possession, and that if I could get him interested in 
talking about the knife, I could probably gain an idea of 
his stammering. Strange to say, the only subject the 
boy would talk upon was the knife, and it was indeed 
pitiful to listen to his vain efforts at talking. He stam- 
mered worse, I think, than any person I had previously 
come in contact with, and the contortion of his face was 
extremely painful. I asked him a number of questions 
regarding his knife, and he endeavored to explain its 
utility to me. It had a number of blades for special 
purposes, and he became extremely enthusiastic over its 
use. I tried to draw him out on other topics, but he 
would talk of nothing else but his knife. I had not the 
least hesitation in pronouncing his case an incurable 
one. Among persons who stammer, as well as among 
persons who do not stammer, we find people who have 
not the ordinary amount of intelligence. Such persons, 
among stammerers, although rare, are incurable. 

I discharged a gentleman from my treatment once 
and pronounced his case an incurable one, not because 
he had an insufficient amount of intellect, but wholly 
for the reason of disobedience. He was a man of be- 
tween 35 and 40 years of age, and one of the most severe 
cases of stammering you can imagine. During the first 
ten days of his treatment, he was extremely enthusiastic, 

— 50 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

but inclined to be unruly and hard to discipline, which 
culminated in open disobedience to my instructions. 
He would rarely, if ever, disobey in my presence, but 
upon dismissal from the school, would act in direct dis- 
obedience to my wishes. One of the principles we 
enforce in our school during treatment is the total absti- 
nence from the use of tobacco and liquors. While I 
have no direct knowledge that this man used the latter, 
still I do know that he smoked constantly, and I have 
every reason to believe that he was also addicted to the 
liquor habit. We rarely come across a pupil who will 
openly disobey our instructions, but the instance I have 
pointed out is one case that I think can be counted 
an incurable one. Incurable cases of stammering are 
very rare, and can be classed almost wholly under the 
two headings, Disobedience and Lack of Intelligence. 
Any case of stammering, no matter how severe, is cur- 
able with proper treatment, obedience to instructions, 
and the ordinary amount of intellect to back up the 
exercises. 



, 5t _ 



CHILD STAMMERING 



A paper read before the Michigan State Association of Elocutionists at their 
annual Convention at Grand Rapids, Mich., December 18, 1897. 

I HAVE known of very few child stammerers. In 
other words, the great majority of so-called stammering 
children are, correctly speaking, stuttering children. 

Stammering takes its root in the early life of the 
child, in the form of stuttering, from which afterwards 
develops a mental complication, commonly termed stam- 
mering. There is, however, sometimes found an excep- 
tion to this, inasmuch as I have known a few children 
who apparently had all the symptoms and conditions of 
stammering, but in the large majority of cases stammer- 
ing does not develop until stuttering has first ravaged 
its victim. The fact that stuttering is largely manifest 
in so-called stammering children, and stammering more 
often found in grown persons, is no evidence but that 
stuttering may also be found in grown persons, and 
stammering found in children. 

The child stutterer does not always develop into a 
stammering adult, but in nine cases out of ten such is 
the case, unless something is done in early life to pre- 
vent this evolution which often takes place. 

_ S 2 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

I have spoken of stuttering and stammering, and in 
order to make myself more clearly understood, I will 
briefly define the difference between these two terms. 
Webster and others use them as synonyms. It has 
been found, however, that while one bears a relation to 
the other, there is, scientifically and technically speak- 
ing, a wide difference between them. Stuttering is 
physical, stammering mental. Stuttering in a sense is 
to stammering what the lamb is to the sheep, the gosling 
to the goose, the fawn to the deer. I make this state- 
ment in a general way, as there are some cases of stam- 
mering to which this comparison will not apply. In 
such persons of hereditary tendency toward stammer- 
ing, the first appearance of the defect is in form, that of 
stuttering, which usually rapidly develops into the awful 
condition of the stammerer. The original defect is 
planted in the prenatal life of the child and there lies 
slumbering in embryo waiting only some mental agita- 
tion to arouse and awaken it. The torch once applied, 
the mischief is done. The manifestations at first are in 
the large majority of cases those of the stutterer, which 
at this age could be easily smothered, but as the child 
advances in years its defect grows upon it. The men- 
tal agitation increases in proportion to the mental prob- 
lems of life, which are daily thrust upon it, and thus in 
contrast, as the rosebud in time unfolds to view the 
beauty of its hidden loveliness there develops in the 
mind of the stammering child as he advances in years 
those abnormal conditions which lead to the awful tor- 
tures of stammering. We know of many cases of stam- 
mering, and know of as many attributed causes. One 

— 53 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

says his stammering originated from fright, another from 
sickness, another from mimicry, another from associa- 
tion, another from accident. Nearly every stammerer 
attributes his stammering to different causes, and yet in 
the large majority of cases they can all be attributed to 
one origin. These so-called causes are merely aggra- 
vations which serve to awaken that which already ex- 
isted, but which was dormant. It may have existed as 
a result of heredity, or it may have taken its origin from 
an unknown source. At all events, these cases of stam- 
mering that are said to have originated from fright, 
mimicry, association, sickness, and many other innumer- 
able causes, are but the external manifestations of an 
abnormal condition of the mind which had previously 
existed unmanifested. Anything that affects or agitates 
the brain of one favorably disposed to the development 
of stammering, is likely to cause stammering, or rather 
I should have said stuttering, as I have explained that 
the large majority of so-called stammerers were in the 
beginning nothing more or less than stutterers. Speak- 
ing of the child stutterer, he is not by any means diffi- 
cult to cure, but the child stammerer is not as easily 
managed. 

I have spoken of stammering, of stuttering, and of 
combined stammering and stuttering. Stuttering when 
found in grown persons is generally a form which has 
been acquired. Had it been of hereditary origin, it would 
no doubt have developed into stammering before the age 
of manhood. Stuttering is largely physical, and not by 
any means difficult to cure. We have had several cases 
of life-long stutterers who have been entirely cured in 

— 54 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

less than two weeks. One of these cases has stood the 
test of three years, another a year and a half. Such 
rapid cures, however, are exceptional among cases of 
stammering which have usually required a longer period. 
The difference in the time required to effect a cure in 
cases of stammering and those of stuttering is accounted 
for in the following manner : With stuttering we have 
but the physical to deal with, while with stammering we 
have both the physical and mental. Stuttering is largely 
due to a wrong manner of breathing and respiration, and 
is manifested by the rapid repetition of words and sylla- 
bles, oftentimes accompanied by convulsive action of 
the muscles. Establish a correct form of respiration, 
make the stutterer talk slowly and behave himself, and 
you have a foundation laid upon which to build the cure. 
Not so, however, with the stammerer. With him we 
have added to an abnormal manner of breathing and 
respiration the mental phase of this difficulty, and thus 
when we have entirely overcome the former we have 
left the latter complication to deal with. Since stutter- 
ing, which is not by any means difficult to cure, is more 
often found in children, and stammering more often 
found in adults, it becomes parents to arrest the stutter- 
ing habit in their children before the difficulty develops 
into stammering, with all its mental complications. 

Age has but little to do with the chances of recovery 
in any case of stammering, as much depends upon the 
application of the pupil to the duties required of him 
and his aptitude and comprehension. Entirely satisfac- 
tory results can rarely be obtained in children less than 
ten years of age. However, at the age of ten and after- 

— 55 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

wards, if the child is intelligent, every vestige of its 
impediment can be entirely eradicated. Children are 
imitative, and thus they readily pick up the work of the 
classes. Quintilian says, " Before all, let the nurses speak 
properly." The child will hear them first and will shape 
his word by imitating them. No child should be kept 
under the influence of a stammering parent. We find in 
nearly every case where one of the parents stammer, at 
least one or more of the children are similarly afflicted. 
Sometimes whole families stammer. I know of one fam- 
ily, where father and mother stammer, every one of their 
children stammer, their grandchildren stammer, and one 
of their great-grandchildren stammers. If possible, 
which is rarely the case, the child of the stammering 
parent should be adopted into another family where it 
will not be brought into association with the habit of 
stammering, until it has passed its fifteenth year. There 
is then but little danger, as but a small percentage of 
persons commence to stammer after that age. We might 
expect the child of stammering parents, who is brought 
daily in contact with this awful habit, to imitate what it 
sees. Old Roger Ascham says : " All languages, both 
learned and mother tongue, are gotten and begotten 
solely by imitation, for as ye used to hear so ye learn to 
speak. If ye hear no other, ye speak not yourself, and 
whom ye only hear of them ye only learn." Thus, what 
can we expect of a child, predisposed as it may be to 
the development of stammering, surrounded with every 
persuasive stammering influence and in other ways sub- 
jected to the exposure of this contagion. We can only 
expect that it will stammer, which we find to be the 

-56- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

result in nine cases out of ten. I speak of it as a con- 
tagion, from the fact that many of these stammering 
children would never have stammered but for having 
been brought into contact with it from association with 
their parents and otherwise. When only one of the 
parents stammer, their children oftentimes escape it. 
Where both parents stammer, the doom for their children 
is inevitable. I have known of several such unfortunate 
cases and the results have always been the same. 

Children who are thought to be disposed to the de- 
velopment of stammering should never be severely pun- 
ished ; they should never be subjected to fright or 
danger. They should be kept away from any person 
so afflicted and should be carefully protected from all 
kinds of sickness accompanied with fevers such as 
measles, mumps, scarlet fever, diphtheria, whooping 
cough, etc. Such forms of sickness, by lowering the 
vitality of the child, and by agitating the brain, are 
likely to bring to the surface that which lies slumbering 
in a dormant condition. 

The temperament of the child who suffers from 
either stammering or stuttering is usually an active one. 
I wish also to say that while nervousness is sometimes 
associated with stammering, during the child life of the 
sufferer there is but little nervousness observable. I 
do not believe the stammerer, as a child, is more nervous 
than children not thus afflicted. It is probably owing 
to his stammering that we notice his nervous condition. 
When he grows to boyhood, and becomes sensitive over 
his infirmity he begins to show signs of nervousness, he 
feels humiliated over his stammering, is laughed at by 

-57- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

other boys, is pushed aside at every turn, until at last, 
like a hunted deer, he turns upon his antagonists and 
tries to defend himself. He finds, however, that he is 
one against many, and, as is often the case, withdraws 
himself from every social and pleasurable pastime. As 
a result of his suffering and of the continued strain from 
making an exhibition of himself, his nerves become un- 
strung, he continues to suffer from day to day, from 
month to month, from year to year, until at last the 
equilibrium of control is overthrown and his nervous- 
ness becomes a part of the man. Thus it is that all 
persons who stammer are nervous. As a proof of this, 
we find that when a stammerer is cured his nervousness 
rapidly disappears. The fear and humiliation of stam- 
mering taken from his mind his nerves gradually settle 
back into a relaxed condition. 

I have been asked what I would do providing I had 
a child who was favorably disposed to the development 
of stammering. This question is rather a complex one 
to answer, from the fact that what I would do other 
persons might not feel disposed to do. In the first 
place, a child, whether disposed to the development of 
stammering or not, should be kept separate and apart 
from every other person so afflicted. If the parent of 
the child stammers, and there is no way to separate 
them, all further advice would be useless and worthless. 
A stammering child, until its impediment can be cor- 
rected, should never be allowed to attend public school, 
nor any other school where it will be brought into 
contact with other children. This is beneficial alike to 
the stammering child and also to its associates with 

-58- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

whom it comes in contact. It is applicable to the 
stammering child from the fact that a cross teacher and 
the teasing it may receive from the other children will 
serve only to aggravate its difficulty and confirm the 
habit. It is deleterious to any child, whether disposed 
to stammering or not, to be constantly associated with 
stammering. Those of you who have a knowledge of 
child life know that any child hearing another stammer 
may endeavor to imitate it, and may either acquire the 
habit or receive a vivid mental impression of what it 
has heard. Children are great imitators. It is largely 
through their keen imitative faculties and imaginative 
mind that so many of them acquire such a store of 
knowledge at such an early stage of life. Do not allow 
your child to imitate or mock a stammerer, nor should 
stammering children be thrown in contact with other 
children not so afflicted. Never laugh at, tease, nor 
scold a child because it stammers. A man brought a 
little boy to me some time ago and asked my opinion 
and advice regarding its impediment. I motioned him 
into the parlor and requested him to be seated, at the 
same time giving a chair to the little boy. The child 
was about seven years of age and a bright, apt little 
fellow. After talking with the father for some minutes 
relative to the boy's stammering, I turned and asked the 
boy his name. Like many children of his age, the boy 
acted rather timid and seemed inclined to shrink away 
from my question. He made an effort to speak, but 
was unable to do so. He stuttered and stammered 
terribly. "Come," said the father, "spit it out or I will 
make you." "No you won't," I answered, "the boy 

— 59 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

has more sense than you have." I motioned the boy 
toward me. Fearful of his father's look, and in response 
to my kind tone, he came and stood between my knees. 
"Now," said I to the father, "you go into the adjoin- 
ing room and leave this little fellow to me, and I will 
tell you when I have talked to him a little while all 
about his stammering." I sat the little fellow on my 
knee and told him of all the sights at Belle Isle, of the 
animals, the monkeys, of a bicycle ride I had taken the 
day previous, and many other things I thought would 
interest him. After a while he forgot the reprimand 
and cross words of his father, and his timid counte- 
nance became radiant and smiling. He told me his 
name, where he lived, how old he was, his little play- 
mate's name at home, and in many other ways enter- 
tained me. During this time he stuttered but little. 
He told me of many little boyish things, and in a pretty 
little child-like way. I stepped to the sitting-room 
door and told the father I was now ready for him, and 
when he put in an appearance the countenance of the 
child fell and he once more became timid and fright- 
ened. I told the boy's father what he should do and 
severely censured him for his actions and manner. He 
took my advice rather reluctantly, but whether he 
applied it or not I do not know. This much, however, 
I do know, that by a careful hand, a kind heart, and 
words of advice and caution, the poor little stammering 
child could have been very much helped, if not entirely 
cured. The best friend it ever had in the world 
unfortunately died, and thus I am led to believe the 
little fellow will grow up and endure all the miseries 

— 60 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

and tortures of stammering. When the stammering 
child is too young to be sent to an institution for 
training, you can do much for it by treating it kindly. 
If it needs a whipping, give it one, if you believe in 
whipping; but never whip it for stammering. Do 
not indulge it on account of its stammering, nor give 
it to understand that it is sympathized with in its 
affliction. Treat it firmly, yet kindly, and never 
grant it a request until it has asked for its want in a 
careful manner. Many crippled, blind, and otherwise 
afflicted children are indulged on account of their in- 
firmity. While I know little regarding blind persons 
or cripples, stammering children should be given to 
understand that they are in no way privileged on ac- 
count of their stammering. Do not treat their stam- 
mering as indifferent; rather give them to understand 
that when they stammer they are breaking one of the 
rules of etiquette. It is equally as wrong to stammer 
as not to remove their hat in the parlor; as wrong to 
stammer as to go to the table with soiled hands and un- 
combed hair. As wrong to stammer as to answer " no " 
when they are asked to do an errand. In fact, teach 
them that to stammer is wrong; but in doing so be 
careful to advise them as to what is right. Whenever 
you correct or punish a child for a misdemeanor, tell it 
of its error, unless it otherwise knows, and advise it of 
the right. Many parents are indifferent to their chil- 
dren, and stammering children are no exception. They 
whack them about, give them just so many whippings 
a week, whether they need them or not, send them 
from the table when company is present, and otherwise 

_6i — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

neglect them. Whatever you do, don't belittle a child, 
especially if he is a stammering child. On the contrary, 
make him your equal, your associate, and by proving 
your interest and friendship in his welfare you will 
make him your lifelong friend. If the parents of stam- 
mering children would advise their children in a kindly 
manner, correct them when they make an error, caution 
them that they must not stammer, and in many other 
ways treat them with firmness and a kindly spirit, there 
would be but few stammering men and women during 
the next generation. 



— 62- 



DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT 

OF 

OBSTINATE CASES OF STAMMERING 



Few persons understand how to correctly diagnose 
a case of stammering. In fact, so little is known of the 
disease except by a limited few who have made the 
subject their life study, that I doubt if any of my read- 
ers, physicians and teachers included, have ever at- 
tempted it. Before a stammerer determines upon a 
course of treatment, whether under a private tutor or at 
an institution, he should first take pains to see that his 
case has been carefully studied and correctly diagnosed. 
His counselor should know every peculiarity of his in- 
firmity before the first step is taken toward radical 
treatment. Otherwise he will be in as bad a condition, 
as far as the chances for his recovery are concerned, as 
the man who would submit himself to a critical opera- 
tion for a hidden tumor, allowing his surgeon to cut 
and hack his body to pieces in a vain endeavor to lo- 
cate the seat of the trouble. Fortunately, however 
contrary to the general rule of treating stammering, 
the skillful surgeon, before making an incision with his 

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THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

knife, knows well what he is about to do. He has thor 
oughly studied his patient's trouble and has made a 
thorough diagnosis of the case. 

This should also be done in every case of stammer- 
ing where successful treatment is contemplated. There 
are no less than twenty or more entirely different and 
distinct types of stammering and stuttering, and there is 
no set plan or code of rules or exercises that will apply 
to all cases alike. Each case, while treated from a com- 
mon basis, must also receive individual care and in- 
struction, according to the indications and manifestations 
apparent. Temperaments are not all alike and disposi- 
tions vary. Thus, a treatment, in order to be success- 
ful, must not only aim to establish a fixed rule, but will 
also require to adapt itself to each and every varying 
case. With a thorough knowledge of the many differ- 
ent types and forms of stammering and stuttering, the 
reader can, without much trouble, form a correct idea 
in any case, and after arriving at a conclusion as to the 
type of stammering we require only a knowledge of the 
principles and rules required to establish a cure. 

We will discuss this latter at the conclusion, and 
will give our attention now to establishing a knowledge 
leading up to the diagnosis of a case. 

Let the reader imagine himself with me in the capac- 
ity of an instructor to whom Mr. B presents himself 

for consultation and advice. To make the case more 
interesting, I have selected as a subject a man who has 
called upon me just previous to this writing, and I want 
you, reader, to come with me into the consultation 
room, where we will make our investigation and form 

-6 4 - 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

our conclusions from which to base the diagnosis of his 
case. 

First, we draw our subject out in conversation. 
Second, have him read from a book or newspaper. 
Third, ask him to repeat with us in concert the words 
and chief obstacles that have proved themselves difficult 
of utterance for him. We ask him his age, study the 
manner of action, his ease or uneasiness, his contor- 
tions, if any; his respiration, his sitting or standing posi- 
tion, the condition of his health by the appearance of 
his physique, the tone of the voice, the articulation, the 
chances or opportunity for physical development, the 
inclination for using synonyms or for substituting easy 
words for difficult ones, and thus, by observation and 
by putting a hundred and one or more questions, we 
learn all we can about the history of the case. 

In answer to my questioning he tells me that his 
mother and one of his elder brothers stammer. This, of 
course, would naturally indicate a case of hereditary stam- 
mering, but before forming a conclusion we must make 
a further investigation. He says he did not commence 
to stammer until after he had passed his tenth year, 
and states that he is now thirty-two years of age. He 
has a child (a boy) five years of age, who stammers 
violently, but who did not commence to stammer until 
after he had passed his fourth year, up until which time 
he had talked perfectly. In answer to further inquiries 
as to the probable cause of his stammering, he says 
that neither he nor his parents noticed any apparent 
difficulty in his speech until after he had mimiced a 
stammerer at the age of ten. 

5 -65- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

This adds a new phase to the case. The indications 
point to heredity on one hand, and to mimicry on the 
other. A question naturally arises, and who can say 
whether the boy would have ever stammered but for 
his sin of imitation and mockery? 

To arrive at a satisfactory answer to the problem, 
let us determine whether the case be one of stammering 
or stuttering, which conclusion in itself will point to the 
origin or cause. 

If upon further investigation we find it to be a case 
of stammering, we must conclude that its origin is 
due to heredity ; if a case of stuttering, there is a chance 
that it may be resultant from mimicry. 

Stammering takes its origin in a different way from 
stuttering, the former being purely mental, while the 
latter is generally the result of habit. 

A condition favorable to the development of stam- 
mering can be inherited and transmitted from father to 
son and from one generation to another, and while this 
claim is also made for stuttering, the writer has never 
known of such a case. 

Stammering is due to an original physical weakness 
in that portion of the brain which governs and presides 
over the faculty of speech,* and differs from stuttering 
in this, that the latter is due entirely to wrongly formed 
habits of respiration and an incorrect manner of vocali- 
zation. 

We must therefore, conclude, if we can show that 
our subject's defect is due to heredity, it is a common 



'See footnote on page 27. 

— 66 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

case of hereditary stammering, while on the other hand, if 
shown that his trouble is due to mimicry it would appear 
as nothing more or less than a case of simple stuttering. 

How shall we proceed to determine whether it be 
due to mimicry or heredity, upon which decision we 
shall base our diagnosis? 

In answer to further inquiries, he states that he can 
control himself to a degree in the presence of strangers, 
but that he stammers badly in the presence of his inti- 
mate acquaintances or in talking to the other members 
of his own household. This is an evidence of stammer- 
ing. The stammerer can, by exercising his will and 
summoning up moral bravery, control himself before 
strangers to a remarkable degree ; in fact, in this way he 
is oftentimes wholly able to conceal his impediment. 
Peculiar as it may seem, he is apparently unable, how- 
ever, to talk well in the presence of intimate acquaint- 
ances. Klencke, speaking of the difference in manifesta- 
tions between the stammerer and stutterer, remarks that 
" the stammerer usually speaks better when he is 
observed and thus forced to pay attention to himself. 
The stutterer immediately begins to stutter violently 
when he is observed." 

Before further investigating the case before us, allow 
me to argue an explanation for the above remarkable 
circumstance that a large number of stammerers can talk 
better to strangers than to their intimate acquaintances 
or relatives. When talking to near friends or to intimate 
acquaintances the stammerer has nothing to conceal. 
They know he stammers and there is therefore but little, 
if any, humiliation in committing such an offense. The 

-67- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

will becomes relaxed and with it a relaxation of motive 
power, followed, as is natural to suppose, by spasmodic 
action typical of the stammerer. When talking with 
strangers, before whom the stammerer does not wish to 
make an exhibition of his infirmity, there is constantly a 
nervous tension of the mind, an effort toward the gener- 
ation of will power, and a consequent increase of motive 
power. Thus follows a temporary better talking, but 
when relaxation does come the effect is generally de- 
pressing. 

The labored effort of the stutterer when attempting 
to talk before strangers is scientifically explained from 
the fact that the increase of difficulty under such condi- 
tions is due to the rapidity of his thought and the rapid 
succession of new ideas that crowd his brain. The result 
can be compared to the panic that ensues at a fire in a 
theater when three or four thousand people attempt to 
crowd their passage through a four-foot door in their 
anxiety to get out. 

Let us now return to our subject who, in stating that 
he stammers but little in the presence of strangers and 
much in the presence of intimate friends, has wound 
about himself a supporting evidence leading up to a case 
of stammering. I have asked him whether he can read 
aloud without trouble in a room by himself, to which he 
answers that he cannot always do so. This can be taken 
as a further evidence of stammering. The stutterer can 
always read aloud without trouble, providing there is no 
other person in the room and he is unaware of the pres- 
ence of listeners. An explanation for this is also em- 
bodied in the preceding argument. 

— 68 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

His replies to my questions regarding his stammer- 
ing show considerable contortion of the facial muscles, 
but unaccompanied by spasmodic action. This would 
appear as a fourth link in the chain pointing to a case of 
stammering. The facial contortions of the stammerer 
are slowly drawn, in which respect they are different to 
the facial contortions of the stutterer, which usually 
occur with spasmodic action. The stammerer may dis- 
tend his mouth like a funnel and keep it in that position, 
vainly endeavoring the meanwhile to speak. He may 
drop his head on his chest, toss it back or sideways, 
or his features may distort to a degree almost beyond 
recognition. On the other hand he may widely open 
his mouth in attempting vocal utterance, compress and 
hold the lips tightly glued together in his efforts to 
utter closed or explosive consonants, but with all this 
his actions are in contrast with those of the stutterer, 
who behaves himself in a more boisterous manner. 

In answer to further questioning as to what condi- 
tions cause him the greatest difficulty, he tells us that it 
gives him the greatest difficulty to relate a story or tell 
of an incident. He was present at the Pullman strike 
in Chicago, but has never been able to tell what he saw 
there. This is indicative of a peculiar mental condi- 
tion found only in the stammerer. The mind, in reach- 
ing out for new ideas to graphically portray in words 
the pictures of the imagination, is drawn away from the 
careful vigilance necessary to co-ordination and harmo- 
nious action of speech, and thus in this way the 
concentrated effort of the will to speak properly is 
weakened. The stammerer who is able with care and 

-69- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

watchfulness to control his speech is oftentimes over- 
thrown when this vigilance is withdrawn. We must 
conclude, therefore, that this statement on the part of 
our subject but strengthens the evidence leading up to 
a diagnosis favorable to stammering. 

He says that he does not stammer as badly in argu- 
ment as in ordinary conversation. This would appear 
as a contradiction to my previous argument, but pecu- 
liar as it may seem, the stammerer is generally able to 
argue well, especially when he warms up to his subject. 
This can be explained from the fact that in argument 
the mind dwells upon what we are about to say, rather 
than upon the manner in which we are to say it, 
and thus temporarily our thoughts are taken away from 
the difficult obstacles that usually present themselves. 
While the stammerer, as already explained, usually has 
the greatest difficulty when he relaxes his mind from 
carefulness of speaking, yet in argument the order of 
things in this respect is generally reversed. He usually 
talks better in argument than ordinarily. It is when 
relaxed and indifferent that he usually has the greatest 
difficulty. In argument the mind is active. There is 
no doubt, also, that the desire to win acts as an incentive 
or generating influence to motive power, and thus 
affords stimulus of mind sufficient for the proper co- 
ordination of all the functions and organs concerned in 
the production of speech. 

It would appear, therefore, from this that what 
would at first seem as a contradiction to former argu- 
ments can be thus scientifically explained and adds 
another link to this interesting chain of evidence. 

— 70- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

Strange as it may appear to one unacquainted with 
stammering, nearly all stammerers have their pet words 
which prove difficult of utterance for them. One stam- 
merer cannot begin the letter " t," while another who 
has no difficulty with words commencing with "t," can- 
not articulate words beginning with "b." 

Nor is this difficulty in a single case confined to but 
one letter of the alphabet, as the great majority of suf- 
ferers find equal obstruction in the utterance of different 
letters. To make myself clear on this point, I wish to 
explain that the letter of itself does not often cause the 
obstruction, as most stammerers can articulate any let- 
ter of the alphabet separately. It is generally when the 
letter in question forms the beginning of a syllable or 
word. 

However, there are exceptions to this, as many stam- 
merers are utterly unable to utter the vowels. 

These obstructions appear to arise only under cer- 
tain conditions, according to the condition of the health, 
the state of the nerves, or the repose of the mind. There 
is a wide difference among stammerers, scarcely two per- 
sons being afflicted exactly in the same manner. 

You have heard the old adage that every sparrow is 
a bird, yet every bird is not a sparrow. 

In the same sense stammering is stammering, and 
while all cases do not bear the same outward manifesta- 
tions, all are substantially the same, the difference in 
cases amounting only to the difference in temperaments 
or in the severity of the case. 

The letters or combination of letters upon which one 
stammers has something to do with determining the 

— 71 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

type of stammering, yet no definite conclusion can be 
arrived at from letters alone. 

Our subject whose case we have been examining 
tells us that words beginning with "b," "t," and "m" 
prove the greatest obstacles, while words commencing 
with other letters prove an occasional hindrance. 

However, the three mentioned are his greatest ob- 
stacles, and he adds that always, unless very careful, he 
has great difficulty in articulating them. Notice that he 
says "unless very careful." This suggests that with 
carefulness he can overcome them, and would appear as 
an indication of stammering, as we have shown that the 
stammerer can by the exercise of his will partly or wholly 
control his stammering. 

What shall we say of his difficult letters? 

Stammering, it is authoritively stated, is manifested 
principally in the articulating organs, which temporarily 
become glued together. Stuttering, on the other hand, 
is manifested principally in the organs of respiration, 
without the articulating organs being primarily affected. 

The former is due to a deficiency or lack of exercise 
and control of the mental energy of the will over the 
organs of utterance, while the latter is generally due to 
an improper manner of breathing and vocalization. 

Pronounce any word beginning with "b," "t," or 
"m" — battle, tattered, master — and we find that it can- 
not be enunciated without the action of the articulating 
organs, the organs between the larynx and the lips. 

This would appear as an indication of stammering, 
especially when we note his answer to my next question. 
He says in his effort to speak he cannot effect a begin- 

— 72 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

ning. Sometimes his organs of speech become tightly 
glued together, at other times there is heard a sound of 
escaping breath. The stutterer can usually effect a be- 
ginning and either with spasmodic effort or otherwise 
rapidly repeats or mixes up his words. 

The stammerer, on the contrary, is usually unable to 
begin, and either effects a beginning with labored effort 
of the diaphragm or hisses his words between his teeth. 
Often his organs of speech become glued together in 
such a manner as to prevent the utterance of a single 
sound. The stutterer rarely manifests these conditions, 
but with convulsive action or spasmodic effort starts his 
sentences immediately. He may make several attempts 
but can generally effect a beginning. Thus, when he 
says that his organs of speech become tightly glued to- 
gether and adds that at other times he makes a hissing 
sound or the sound of escaping breath, I take it as a 
further evidence of stammering. Many stammerers first 
expel all the air from their lungs, after which they try 
to talk on exhausted breath. This habit reminds me of 
the musician who would attempt to get music from an 
organ after he had allowed the bellows to collapse. 

Nearly all stammerers can sing without any apparent 
manifestation of an impediment in their speech. This 
peculiarity is accounted for from the fact that in music 
there is rhythm and meter. There are no abrupt begin- 
nings. All words are commenced in an even drawn man- 
ner which appears to be conducive to the harmonious 
action of the vocal organs. One authority says the stam- 
merer betrays his defect in singing and in measured talk- 
ing, but from experience I have observed that there are 

-73- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

many exceptions as only a small percentage of stammer- 
ers have trouble in singing. However, where one has 
difficulty in singing the same as in speaking it may be 
taken as a positive evidence of stammering. In my ex- 
perience I have known of only a few persons to stammer 
in singing. In answer to further questions on my part 
our subject tells us that he frequently meets with hin- 
drance in his singing, which, as already explained, is 
evidence of a case of stammering. The stutterer never 
betrays his defect in singing. He informs us, however, 
that he can speak fluently and without the slightest ap- 
parent hindrance when angry. With anger comes de- 
termination, with determination comes will effort, and 
with will effort comes control. As explained in the be- 
ginning of this article, the stammerer can, by exercising 
his will or determination, partly or wholly control his 
speech. This explains why when very angry many stam- 
merers speak fluently. The accumulated nervous force 
and energy under such circumstances appears sufficient 
to enable him to exercise the required control. The 
stutterer when angered or excited is thereby rendered 
powerless to speak, his efforts to do so generally result- 
ing in spasmodic and convulsive action. There are ex- 
ceptions to this, as we occasionally find a man who pre- 
sents all the manifestations of the stammerer, but who 
when angry is confused in speaking, while on the other 
hand I have found that a few stutterers were able to 
speak quite well when very angry. It may be generally 
stated, however, that it temporarily improves the stam- 
merer to anger him, while to anger the stutterer is to 
make him worse. It is after the anger and passion have 

-74- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

subsided, when the reaction sets in, that the stam- 
merer becomes worse. The circumstance that the sub- 
ject whom we have been examining can speak well when 
angry may, therefore, be accepted as further evidence of 
stammering. He says in answer to further questioning 
that he can talk better to persons before whom he does 
not wish to exhibit his stammering, but that he is often- 
times obliged to use synonyms and substitute words to 
avoid obstacles. Here we have another trait of stam- 
mering. One of our correspondents writes : 

"Many years ago in exhibiting to an acquaintance photo- 
graphs of a number of my relatives and friends, I came upon the 
likeness of my brother. The word brother was invariably a stumb- 
ling block for me, and this time proved no exception. I did not 
want my friend to know that I stammered, yet how was I to conceal 
it. I endeavored to pass the photograph by without explanation in 
order to avoid an exhibition of my stammering and contortion, 
which at such times was most pronounced and severe, but to my 
embarrassment I was promptly asked by my friend whose likeness 
it was I had endeavored to pass. Stammerer-like, my mind 
reached out in a thousand directions for a synonym, but there was 
no other word that I could use. Trifling as the incident may seem, 
I shall never forget it. My mind became almost a perfect blank 
when, quick as a flash, I carefully replied, stammering as I repeated 
the words : ' That is a picture of one in our family who is next 
older than I.' It is unnecessary to explain that my reply provoked 
an abundance of mirth, at the same time I avoided temporarily by 
my tactics, as many stammerers do, a most embarrassing ordeal of 
contortion and wasted effort." 

Our subject says further that he does not lisp, and 
that his articulation is perfect when he does not stam- 

— 75 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

mer. He is of a nervous temperament, with a fairly good 
physique, cheerful in disposition, subject, however, to 
spells of melancholy. In summing up the evidence we 
find that every time in answer to questions the manifes- 
tations all point to a case of stammering. It is, I have 
no doubt, a case of hereditary stammering which might 
have remained dormant and never would have manifested 
itself but for his having imitated a fellow sufferer. The 
condition, no doubt, was predisposed, and required but 
the torch of imagination to awaken it and develop its 
dormant qualities. Thus, while it may be said on the one 
hand that his stammering was due to mimicry, it was on 
the other hand primarily due to heredity, and will require 
the same treatment and care as a case of hereditary 
stammering. 

Much has been written and said about the treatment 
of stammering, and many of those who say and write 
often know less when they have finished than before 
they began. 

I receive many hundreds of letters from stammerers 
asking about treatment. One man writes and asks 
whether he is too old for treatment. Another wishes to 
know whether he is too young ; a third has been an in- 
veterate tobacco user and wishes to know whether this 
will ruin the chances for a cure; a fourth has suffered 
from ill health and asks whether this fact will bar him 
out, and thus I might go on and tell about many dif- 
ferent kinds of people who write as many different kinds 
of letters about as many different types of stammering. 

All want to be cured, and all are anxious about treat- 
ment. The first question that naturally arises in the 

-76- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

mind of the stammerer is, " Can I be cured and by what 
means?" Every stammerer asks himself this question, 
and the question often repeats itself to him. How shall 
we answer? 

It is true that until within the past five or ten years 
but little advance had been made in the science of treat- 
ing stammering. Many attempts were made, rewarded 
with but little success and many failures. A few con- 
scientious men worked hard in the interests of stam- 
merers and stammering, while a countless number of 
"quacks," "professors," and "charlatans" were ap- 
parently working the stammerer and bleeding him for 
all and more than he was worth. This, I think, has in 
a large measure had a tendency to make the stammerer 
skeptical, even at this advanced era of success in treat- 
ing stammering, as the older generation of stammerers 
well remember the rough experience through which 
they passed, and not satisfied with allowing these things 
to influence them, they throw this skepticism into the 
minds of their children and the younger generation, 
with the result that they also in many instances regard 
a cure as doubtful. This, to me, is ridiculous. In my 
mind, it would be equally as fair to say that a man now- 
adays would surely die from appendicitis because his 
father or grandfather died from appendicitis. Every- 
body knows that the chance of death from appendicitis 
(once so fatal) has been lessened to a remarkable de- 
gree within the last few years, owing to the rapid strides 
in science and surgery. 

During our fathers' and grandfathers' time the deaf 
mute was obliged to converse entirely by signs and by 

-77 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

the use of his fingers. Since then large institutions 
have been established all over the country, where these 
unfortunates are taught to converse with oral expres- 
sion. Note, also, the advance in the use of medicine. 
Compare the old methods with the new. 

In short, comparisons without number could be 
drawn to show the remarkable advance of science, art, 
and learning in every imaginable way. 

Old fogyisms and old-time ways are being rapidly 
supplanted by modern methods in almost every science, 
art, trade, and profession, and thus I claim that it is 
both wrong and unjust for those who are familiar with 
the unsuccessful attempts made to cure stammering 
years ago to allow this prejudice to influence them 
either in the matter of their own cure or a cure for any 
other unfortunate. 

That stammering has been cured, can be cured, and 
is being cured, hundreds of living monuments to success- 
ful treatment bear testimony. It is true that there are 
still, and no doubt ever will be, that class of charlatan 
quacks who never do what they profess to do, but we find 
this element in every walk of life and in every profession. 
But this fact should not prejudice the stammerer against 
those who are truly endeavoring to benefit him. 

Would it not be equally as fair to say that all pro- 
fessing Christians are hypocrites because a few are hypo- 
crites? Shall we condemn the many for the errors of a 
few, or, on the other hand, shall we condemn the few for 
the errors of the many? 

Shall we condemn our reputable and educated physi- 
cians because a countless number of ignorant quacks, 

-78- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

divine healers, and such like, overrun the country, claim- 
ing to do what they cannot do, and never doing what 
they claim to do? Shall we not endeavor to encourage 
the one and abolish the other? 

Shall the skilled mechanic be condemned because a 
more pretentious fellow-laborer is a botch? Why not 
then apply this argument to reputable institutions for the 
cure of stammering ? One reason I have dwelt so largely 
upon this prejudice and skepticism which is apparent in 
the minds of most stammerers is this, that I believe that 
in order for a patient to be cured of stammering he should 
have every confidence in his instructor, and himself fully 
believe in a successful termination to his efforts. We find 
this also in the sick patient. Doctors will tell you that 
in serious illness the chances for recovery are always in 
favor of the patient who believes in his recovery. When- 
ever a patient in a sick room gives up his case as hope- 
lessly lost, the attending physician is handicapped. 
Hope is everything, but belief is often a reality in itself. 
This is true especially in the treatment of stammering. 

That which may be considered lost may oftentimes 
be regained by confidence. Confidence in the instructor, 
confidence in the instructions, and confidence in the cure. 
Confidence welded with hope is the stammerer's step- 
ping stone to success. 

I have many times been asked to state what type of 
stammering I consider the most difficult to cure. In my 
opinion all forms of stammering are curable, provided, 
of course, that the patient is well disposed for treatment 
and obeys instructions. This disposition for treatment 
may be explained as an anxiety on the part of the patient 

— 79 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

for treatment, a disposition to do everything he is told 
to do and obedience in this that he will do nothing that 
he is told not to do. 

Age has but little to do with the chances for recov- 
ery in any case of stammering. When a child has passed 
its tenth year, it is old enough to intelligently understand 
and apply all of the exercises necessary in affecting a 
cure, and not until a man or woman commences to grow 
childish from old age is that most coveted prize, a cure, 
a lost possibility. It is largely true with stammering 
that the earlier we can check it the better, yet strange as 
it may appear, many cases of long standing yield to treat- 
ment more readily than those of more recent origin. 

The type of stammering in itself does not appar- 
ently appear as important as the conditions that sur- 
round it. By this I mean that the ordinary case of 
stammering, otherwise easy to cure, might prove diffi- 
cult if surrounded by unfavorable conditions. These 
conditions are varied and consist of the health of the 
pupil, his temperament, disposition, and habits ; his be- 
lief or nonbelief in the cure, and his comprehension 
of ideas and application to instruction figure also as 
important factors in determining results. 

Much depends also upon the course or plan of 
treatment pursued, but more depends upon the applica- 
tion of that treatment. A poor system of treatment 
well applied will invariably give better results than a 
good system of treatment poorly applied. A poor sys- 
tem of treatment poorly applied will give absolutely no 
results at all, while a good system of treatment well 
applied will give results that are most satisfactory. 

— 80 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

Under such a treatment there is no doubt or question 
but that the worst possible cases of stammering can be 
entirely and permanently cured. I have spoken of the 
health of the pupil as having an important bearing in 
determining his cure. This is true, yet persons in ill 
health should not be frightened and imagine, because 
their health is poor, the chances for their recovery are 
small. The fact of the matter is that the ill health of the 
stammerer is usually consequent from nervous exhaus- 
tion caused by the continued unsettled condition of his 
nerves and consequent drain upon his vitality. Nerv- 
ousness is the result of stammering, not the cause, and 
we find under treatment while the cure is being fastened 
upon a pupil and his old habit of stammering shaken 
off, the nervous force and energy gradually return, 
thereby much improving the general health. 

Having personally known of a number of such in- 
stances, I have arrived at the conclusion that many 
stammerers who are constantly suffering from poor 
health caused by the disturbed and unsettled condition 
of their nerves, would grow strong and robust if relieved 
from this distressing impediment. 

While I have said the health of the pupil has an 
important bearing on the treatment, these ill conditions 
caused by poor health are entirely overcome by the 
progress of the pupil under treatment. Any good 
treatment for the cure of stammering will have as a 
part of its system a regular course of training for the 
improvement of the general health of every pupil. 

Classes should be graded, and the exercises adapted 
to the wants of each particular case. This done, and 

6 — 81 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

the pupil properly instructed, an absolute cure will re- 
sult, even though a pupil when he commences treat- 
ment is suffering from poor health, provided, of course, 
that the condition of his health is not such as to wholly 
unfit him for his work, that the treatment is rational 
and modern, and the pupil obedient in the fulfillment 
of his duties. 

I have said that the disposition of the pupil enters 
into treatment as an important factor in determining the 
results of his efforts to overcome his trouble. I have 
also touched upon this subject and defined why and how 
a pupil for treatment should be favorably disposed, and 
were it not for the fact that my remarks on this point 
have been made perfectly clear, I would dwell more 
largely upon it now. Suffice it to say that any person 
desirous of overcoming the lifelong habit of stammering, 
should while under treatment cultivate a cheerful dispo- 
sition and entertain at all times a kindly feeling toward 
all. Having touched upon the question of the health and 
disposition or temperament of the pupil, let us now dwell 
for a moment on the habits of the stammerer. I am 
sorry to say many stammerers and also a fair percentage 
of young men who do not stammer do things in their 
early youth, the results of which oftentimes cling to them 
during the whole balance of their life. These habits are 
not always at the root of the evil of stammering, but are 
certainly conducive to it and should be stopped at once. 
The use of tobacco should by all means be abandoned 
by every stammerer, as it not only aggravates the evil, 
but makes the case less responsive to treatment. The 
use of liquor, especially whiskey, wines, or beer, should 

— S2 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

also be avoided, nor would I advise the use of coffee or 
tea. Anything that acts as a stimulant or which affects 
the nerve centers should be carefully put aside. 

While the temperament and disposition of a pupil 
under treatment for stammering has some bearing in 
determining results, the moral aspect of matters must 
not be lost sight of. Pupils should allow their minds to 
run only in moral channels and abstain from all those 
things which corrupt or destroy. When a stammerer 
decides to undergo treatment for stammering he should 
at the same time, if he wishes to be successful, make up 
his mind to undergo, as far as possible, a change in his 
other habits. If he is already a moral man this of course 
will be unnecessary. Let him keep his mind pure, ab- 
stain from excess of any kind, attend properly to his 
habits of eating and sleeping and take such exercise out 
of doors as is necessary for his physical well-being. This 
is especially applicable to cases of intermittent stammer- 
ing, where the severity of the case alternates in ratio 
with the physical condition of the sufferer. 

In the beginning of this article, I, as far as possible, 
told my reader how I would diagnose a case of stam- 
mering and have subsequently dwelt upon conditions 
favorable to treatment. This I have done in a general 
way in answer to many inquiries received from corre- 
spondents asking me to tell them how to prepare for a 
course of treatment in order that they might complete 
their cure in the shortest time possible consistent with 
the very best results. In continuing I wish to say that 
the success of any enterprise for the cure of stammering 
will largely depend upon the permanency of its cures. 

-83- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

The cure in itself is not by any means difficult to effect. 
It is the permanency of the cure that bothers many per- 
sons, to insure which their every effort appears to be of 
no avail. Their failure to succeed is no doubt due to 
their lack of thoroughness and knowledge and their in- 
attention to the little details that go to make the cure 
complete. Thus it is I have held out a few suggestions 
which should receive the attention of every would-be- 
successful student. There has been much sensationalism 
associated with some treatments for the cure of stammer- 
ing which I most bitterly oppose. I am not a believer 
in the theory that Divine Providence is in partnership 
with any institution or person interested in the cure of 
stammering. Neither do I believe that the Almighty 
has selected out any one particular person to cure 
stammering and that all other persons are unable to per- 
form such "miracles." In fact, I do not believe that 
there is any miracle-working wonder about it. Matters 
have even gone so far that an eastern institution adver- 
tising to cure stammering makes an open claim to 
support from God. Who can wonder that all this sensa- 
tionalism and hypocrisy could but result in evil instead 
of good. These time-worn ideas, however, are rapidly 
dying out and the stammerer already warned against 
them, is giving ear to more rational theories. 

Speaking further with reference to treatments for the 
cure of stammering, I could name many of the earlier 
authorities and give a synopsis of their theories, which, 
however, would prove of no practical benefit to the reader. 
Probably the earliest cure of which we have any 
knowledge is Demosthenes. According to Potter, 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

Satyrus, the Grecian actor, is said by Plutarch to have 
been responsible for the cure of Demosthenes, who 
labored under a weak voice, indistinct speech, and short 
breath, combined with violence of manner. The gen- 
erally received notion that the cure of the great Grecian 
orator was effected by speaking with pebbles in his 
mouth is not borne out by the historical account; for 
both Demetrius and Cicero tell us that Demosthenes 
spent months in training his voice, using a looking-glass 
during his vocal exercises and applying every power of 
his will to the conquering of his speech defect, the 
pebbles being but an incidental part of the treatment. 

Celus (A. D. 1-37) describes various means of cor- 
recting speech defects, ^tius (600) also blames the 
tongue. yEgineta did likewise. Avicenna (1000), an- 
other early authority, also lays the fault to the tongue. 

De Chauliac (1336), a celebrated Italian surgeon, 
ascribed stuttering to convulsions, ulcers, or other affec- 
tions of the tongue, to paralysis, or to moisture of the 
nerves and muscles. His treatment consisted of embro- 
cations to desicate the brain cauteries to the vertebrae, 
blisters, frictions, and " gargarisms " for the tongue. 

Mercurialis ( 1 5-84) , professor at Padua, Bologna, and 
Pisa, wrote concerning stuttering in his work, locating 
its cause in the brain and in the tongue and giving it 
two species, according as it was produced by abnormal 
dryness or moisture of those parts. His treatment was 
similar to De Chauliac's with the addition of systematic 
exercise of the voice and the body. 

Canon Kingsley (i860), a celebrated English ora- 
tor and writer, chaplain to the Queen, was himself a 

-85- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

stutterer until he was nearly forty years of age, and has 
written at considerable length regarding the affection. 
Kingsley made many mistakes and laid down many 
foolish and nonsensical rules. He writes that the cause 
of stammering in three cases out of four can be traced 
to conscious or unconscious imitation. In a letter to a 
young lady he tells her she stammers because her 
upper teeth, like his, shut over the lower ones, and pre- 
scribes a set of fixed rules, the chief of which relates to 
opening the mouth widely. He considered boxing an 
excellent pastime for the stammerer. Had he been a 
Frenchman, Dr. Potter remarks, he would have said 
fencing — if an American, base ball. Hunt treated 
stammering successfully in England for many years 
and wrote a comprehensive treatise on the subject 
which Dr. Potter says is sufficiently complex to cause 
a mania of both the auditory and articulating apparatus. 

Dr. Klencke conducted an institution in Hanover, 
Germany, and met with a fair degree of success. In his 
writings he has advanced a number of different theories 
regarding the nature of stammering, his ideas of the 
moral nature of the stammerer being disputed by many 
other authorities. His patients appeared to be largely 
of the lower class, or of a low order, but his opinion is 
worthy of respect from the fact that he had a wide 
experience. 

There was one rational feature in connection with 
Klencke's method which I heartily endorse and recom- 
mend, that is his endeavors to arouse the will of his pupil 
and keep it in constant action. He also drilled his pa- 
tients systematically in the technics of speech. Much 

— 86 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

might be added of the different methods of treatment and 
theories of early writers, but all are vague and in a sense 
impractical. The earlier methods of surgery and super- 
stition have practically died out and thus it remains for 
later authorities to advance and carry out more sensible 
methods of treatment. 

After years of careful study and investigation I am 
convinced now more than ever that only such methods as 
are educational in character and graded to suit the re- 
quirements of special cases can prove efficient. Tricks 
and secrets are old-time fogyisms. Surgery is no longer 
employed anywhere. There is no longer room for the 
charlatan or quack. New ideas, business methods, and 
modern facilities for treatment have at last proved true 
the old saying: 

"You can fool some people all the time ; you can fool 
all the people some of the time ; but you cannot fool all 
the people all the time." 



HELPFUL HINTS AND EXERCISES 



BREATHING, SLEEP, MORALITY, DIET, 

And Their Relation to a Possible Cure for 
Stammering 



breathing 

There are many stammerers who do not appear to 
understand the benefits to be derived from practicing a 
correct form of breathing. A correct form of breathing 
cannot in itself, without other principles, establish a 
cure for stammering any more than a pile of bricks can 
in itself form a building without mortar or masonry. 
It may, however, serve as an auxiliary and when com- 
bined with other exercises it oftentimes forms a basis 
upon which a cure may be built. One thing is certain. 
We cannot produce voice without producing breath. 
If then we have an incorrect manner of producing our 
breath, what shall we say of our syllables, of our words, 
and of our sentences? Shall we not go back to the 
prime disturbance and by the pursuance of a system of 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

exercises directly opposed to our wrongly formed hab- 
its endeavor to correct the evil and begin anew? 

Although the origin of all this disturbance with the 
stammerer can in no way be attributed to his abnormal 
respiration,* which is rather a result than a cause, yet 
we should aim, if possible, to correct the habit and sub- 
stitute for it a correct manner of respiration. If we can 
succeed in doing this the chances for the permanency 
of the cure are largely added to, and we can also count 
on more rapid progress from the beginning. 

There are many benefits to be derived from the pur- 
suance of good breathing exercises. Even for those not 
afflicted with stammering, but for the stammerer, espe- 
cially, they are particularly beneficial. Let us for a 
moment discuss the relation of breathing exercises to a 
possible cure for stammering. Can we by a pursuance 
of breathing exercises in any possible way influence or 
strengthen that which directs and controls all move- 
ments of the body — the brain? When we wish to 
strengthen any function or muscle of the body we exer- 
cise it. This granted, can we not by exercising that 
portion of the brain wherein the stammerer is deficient, 
improve and strengthen it to a degree sufficient to give 
the will absolute control over the organs of respiration? 
For illustration or example suppose we wish to execute 
costal breathing. In costal breathing we direct the 
effort of the mind to the muscles of the sides and by 
forcing the same to obey the dictates of the will we 
force them out and allow them to again contract, al- 



Stammering originates in the brain, see footnote page 27. 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

ways, of course, aiding this performance by means of 
the pressure of the air within which we have in the 
meantime inhaled for this purpose. We repeat this ex- 
ercise again and again and in so doing not only exercise 
the costal muscles of the body, but at the same time 
are also educating the mind to control muscle action. 
We proceed to other forms of breathing and find in 
dorsal breathing the will commands the muscles of the 
back, in chest breathing the muscles of the chest re- 
spond to the dictates of the mind. In diaphragmatic 
breathing we find the diaphragmatic muscle obeys, and 
hence while the muscles of respiration are being exer- 
cised, that which gives the command is also being ex- 
ercised. In stammering we find as a result of certain 
existing circumstances the muscles of respiration refuse 
to obey the dictates of the mind. The will is insuffi- 
cient; the harmony and co-ordination of the functions 
and organs concerned in speech-production is disturbed 
and we falter or stumble, but if we educate the mind to 
control these muscles we find always a ready response 
to our desires. This is the relation of breathing exer- 
cises to a possible cure for stammering. 

Another incalculable benefit to be derived from a good 
system of breathing exercises is the development it gives 
to the whole body. But you say, What benefit can that 
afford me ? What bearing has that upon a possible cure 
for my stammering? Would you believe it that nearly 
everything you do has either a beneficial or deleterious 
effect upon your talking ? One stammerer says : I stam- 
mer worse when I am suffering from indigestion. An- 
other argues that he suffers worse from the loss of sleep. 

— 90 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

Another claims that his greatest difficulty comes from 
cold in the head. Another has spasms when brought 
into contact with strangers ; another grows worse from 
the use of tobacco, and thus I could tell you of a thou- 
sand and one or more persons, all of whom surfer worse 
from this, that, or the other thing. They do not seem to 
attribute it all to one parent cause. 

When you observe a result you may always rest as- 
sured there is a cause, and in this cause (the disturbance 
of the nerve centers of the body) lies the great unhid- 
den law that rules supreme. Anything that upsets the 
equilibrium of control should be carefully guarded against. 
He who stammers worse when suffering from indigestion 
must learn that the whole nervous system of the body is 
affected by a deranged condition of the stomach and 
that his excessive difficulty in speaking under such cir- 
cumstances is but natural, because that which affects the 
nerves affects also the fluency of his speech. 

He who overindulges himself in natural or unnatural 
excitement must pay the penalty in his talking — be- 
cause just as sure as the night follows the day, so also 
does stammering follow a disturbance or agitation of the 
nerve centers. He who stammers worse when suffering 
from the effects of a cold must also learn that he is suf- 
fering from a disturbance of the nerves. This has been 
not only my personal experience, but is largely based 
upon my observation in hundreds of other cases. 

The same law that metes out suffering to the stam- 
merer who would disobey its rulings also crowns with 
laurels of success him who will build up and strengthen 
his body. Thus, if it can be shown that breathing exer- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

cises are beneficial for this purpose, it stands us well in 
hand to add them to our curriculum of studies. Another 
beneficial result of the breathing exercise for the stam- 
merer is the additional capacity it gives him for the re- 
tention of breath. Breathing exercises also give an 
upright carriage to the body, develop the chest, and keep 
the blood in active circulation. In short, they are bene- 
ficial to the whole organism, and while they cannot of 
themselves effect a cure for stammering, they neverthe- 
less serve as an auxiliary and aid us in our work. 

SLEEP 

The New Year's, 1898, number of the Youth's Com- 
panion, in an article entitled "Gladstone at Eighty- 
eight," attributes the wonderful enduring faculties of this 
well-known statesman to his capacity for sleep and short 
naps. During his whole life it is said that he methodic- 
ally found time for rest as well as work, and thus, unlike 
the majority of Americans of the same age, Gladstone 
at that time was well preserved and in possession of all 
his faculties. 

Sleep is curative. Sleep is restful. Every stammer- 
ing man, woman, and child should observe methodical 
and regular hours for sleep. In cases of intermittent 
stammering, where the severity of the affliction alternates 
in ratio with the physical condition of the sufferer, sleep, 
above all things, should be earnestly courted. Rest is 
oftentimes as beneficial as sleep. A half hour's rest or 
sleep before dinner will serve to strengthen the nerves 
and refresh the body as nothing else can. Every person 

— 92 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

who suffers from stammering should sleep from eight to 
ten hours in every twenty-four. Do not oversleep, but 
sleep sufficiently. Too much sleep is as harmful as too 
little sleep. A good plan to pursue, if possible, is to sleep 
whenever you feel sleepy, except after eating heartily. 
Never sleep on a full stomach. You can neither sleep 
well nor will your food digest well. Always rest for a 
time after eating, but avoid sleep until your food is well 
under the process of digestion. 

Dr. Felix L. Oswald, in an article entitled, "The 
Curative Power of Sleep," written for health culture, 
New York, says : 

"Brain-work succeeds best while the activity of the 
animal organism is reduced to an indispensable mini- 
mum. The mind is never clearer than early in the morn- 
ing, when the work of digestion is finished ; and for 
similar reasons digestion proceeds most prosperously 
while the brain is at rest. A correspondent of mine, who 
is subject to attacks of spasmodic asthma, often passes a 
whole afternoon on suburban trolley cars, knowing from 
experience that the rocking motion and the sight of 
monotonous streets are apt to result in cat-naps, and that 
the shortest nap of that sort is sufficient to break the 
spell of the dyspnoea — the distressing difficulty to draw 
a full breath of life-air. 

A mere cat-nap is also sufficient to relieve sick head- 
ache, dizziness, spasms of colic, and neuralgia ; and pro- 
tracted slumber — five or six hours of dreamless sleep 
— has saved more than one life that could not have been 
as much as respited by all the drugs mentioned in Bar- 
tholomew's "Handbook of Therapeutics." Chronic 

— 93 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

diarrhea has been known to yield to that specific, and 
in many kinds of fevers, too, everything is gained if the 
patient can be helped to a few hours of deep slumber 
without the use of narcotics. Monotonous work, pur- 
posely continued to the verge of fatigue, may help to 
relieve insomnia, and in obstinate cases the application 
of warm winding sheets to the feet and of cool cataplasms 
to the head will promote the same purpose by alleviat- 
ing the engorgement of the cerebral blood-vessels. 

Opiates only mock the patient with the appearance 
of relief, and, like brandy in the r61e of a dyspepsia cure, 
frequently result in an aggravation of the trouble. Lau- 
danum paralyzes the digestive organs, and not only fails 
to reproduce the conditions of natural slumber, but goads 
the brain into fever-dreams, more permanently injurious 
than sleeplessness. 

Anne Payson Call, in " Power Through Repose," 
speaking of "Rest and Sleep," says: "Realizing fully 
that sleep is meant for rest, that the only gain is rest, 
and that new power for use comes in consequence — 
how absurd it seems that we do not abandon ourselves 
completely to gaining all that nature would give us 
through sleep." 

Sleep is quieting to the nerves, soothing to the brain, 
and nourishing to the body. Undeniable as this is, can- 
not the reader easily understand that sleep is helpful to 
the stammerer. The stammerer, generally speaking, is 
nervous, and owing to his continued fear of stammering 
becomes mentally fatigued. His thoughts course rap- 
idly through his brain, even faster than he can phys- 
ically produce them. Motive power, when generated, 

— 94 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

is oftentimes misdirected, and in consequence he ages 
quickly. 

Canon Kingsley has said: "The stammerer's life 
is full of misery, and necessarily a short one by reason 
of the mental depression and misdirection of vital energy 
which is induced thereby." 

Sleep cannot, by any means, effect a cure in any 
case of stammering. The point I wish to emphasize is 
this : that loss of sleep and irregular hours will aggra- 
vate and make worse any case of stammering. 

I wish to add, also, that plenty of sleep, with regu- 
lar hours, will, by quieting the nerves and resting the 
brain and body, make possible for successful treatment 
cases of stammering that might otherwise prove diffi- 
cult to cure. 

MORALITY 

There is no doubt but that morality obtains a wide 
influence for good in the treatment and cure of stammer- 
ing. We have heard much about the physical treatment 
of stammering, and yet, important as it is, there has been 
but little written about the moral treatment of this awful 
affliction. I do not assume that morality and purity in 
living can in any case effect a cure for stammering. My 
claim is that it makes javorable for successful treatment 
a condition which would otherwise prove unfavorable. 
Fortunately I have known of very few stammerers im- 
morally inclined. On the contrary the affliction appears 
to exert a restraining influence over its victim, and in the 
same manner that it deprives him socially from the en- 

— 95 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

joyment of the pleasures of life it also holds him in check 
from falling into the pitfalls of ruin. There are without 
doubt exceptions to this, since I have known of one or 
two stammerers who were decidedly immoral characters. 
My experience, however, from contact with large num- 
bers of persons afflicted with stammering, bears me out 
in reaffirming that the large majority of stammerers are 
of the moral type. There is good and bad in everything 
and everywhere, and oftentimes the latter element pre- 
dominates, but fortunate as is the case among stammerers 
the majority of them are, if not strictly moral, morally 
inclined. This fact is largely in favor of the stammerer 
so far as the possibility of a cure is concerned, because if 
the order of things in this respect were reversed it would 
in a measure lessen the chances for recovery. The mor- 
ally inclined stammerer is generally more susceptible to 
treatment than the stammerer who is not morally inclined. 
With a mind full of corrupt thoughts, a mouth full of evil 
sayings, and a body full of languor or disease, we have 
many obstacles to surmount before entirely satisfactory 
results can be accomplished. On the other hand, a mind 
filled with goodness and virtue, a clear conscience, and a 
healthy body make successful treatment both probable 
and possible. The stammerer who would make for him- 
self a condition most favorable for an absolute cure of his 
affliction should at once set about to live a life of chastity 
and purity. Let him engage his mind with wholesome 
literature, his body with healthful exercise, and let him 
choose his companions with as much care as he would 
choose a life partner. Companionship has more to do 
with moral living than we would suppose. Every im- 

-96- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

pression received is one either for good or evil, and thus 
one evil companion will readily overthrow the very thing 
you are trying to establish, while a companion of good 
morals will strengthen resolutions and build up character. 
To prepare yourself for the most favorable results for 
treatment cleanse your mind of every impure thought and 
keep it constantly cleansed and pure. Avoid obscene 
language, burlesque or other objectionable plays or thea- 
ters, the use of tobacco in every form ; also avoid the use 
of liquor, tea, coffee, and above all the poisonous ciga- 
rette. Avoid also all kinds of vice and the indulgence in 
any pleasure that exhausts the vitality. Take plenty of 
physical exercise, eat wholesome food, retire early, sleep 
on a good comfortable bed, bathe often, and live well. If 
you will follow the plan I have here laid out, you will not 
only enhance the probability of a cure for your stammer- 
ing, but you will also elevate yourself in your own esti- 
mation and in the estimation of all other men. 



DIET 

There is more benefit to be gained from diet re- 
strictions than the stammerer would at first suppose. 
Many persons who stammer are equally as unable to 
control their appetite as their speech. Naturally of an 
active temperament and a nervous disposition they fall 
into the rut of doing everything quickly and without 
regularity. Probably one of the worst evils, aside from 
that of stammering, wrought by this practice or habit 
of doing things quickly, is that of rapid eating and 
overeating. It is also equally as harmful to the 

7 -97 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

stammerer to eat food that is highly seasoned. He 
should avoid the use of spices or condiments in every 
form. Eat and drink nothing that contains more 
stimulus than nourishment. Eat nothing animal or 
vegetable that has not obtained maturity to reproduce 
itself under ordinary circumstances. Use neither tea 
nor coffee nor alcoholic liquors ; avoid fatty substances 
and eat but little, if anything, that contains lard. Eat 
slowly and drink nothing while you have food in your 
mouth. Indeed, try to do everything moderately, and 
keep down all excitement of either body or mind. 
Cultivate a cheerful disposition and an agreeable state 
of mind. Cultivate none but agreeable feeling toward 
all. Be regular as possible in your habits, whether 
of eating, drinking, sleeping, or exercise, and do all 
things decently and in order. A derangement of the 
stomach means a derangement of the nervous system, 
which in turn aggravates your natural weaknesses. 
Nourish your body with wholesome food, and eat only 
such things as can be well digested. Indigestion is one 
of the aggravating evils of stammering. Apply the 
rules here laid down, and notice the improvement in 
your general health, as well as in your talking. 



• 9 s. 



STAMMERING 



PRACTICALLY, THEORETICALLY 



lecture delivered before the members of the Detroit Academy of Medicine, 
June 25, 1895. 

My experience from contact with the stammerer 
convinces me that the difficulty is scarcely, if ever, 
manifested in two persons in exactly the same manner. 
I have also learned that the conditions under which 
stammerers experience the greatest trouble are by no 
means the same. 

There appears to be a wide difference of opinion 
regarding the definition and origin of this malady. It 
is not my intention, however, to enter into and discuss 
different authorities and criticise their definitions, but 
to outline as clearly as possible the cause of the stam- 
merer's difficulty and practically demonstrate to you 
my mode of treatment. 

I have frequently been asked the question, " To 
what do you attribute stammering?" "What is the 
difference between stammering and stuttering?" To 
the public, there would seem to be but little difference, 

— 99 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

and even the close observer, unless thoroughly ac- 
quainted with the peculiarities of this affliction, might 
easily be led astray in his conclusions. 

Without going into detail of explanation, I will say 
that stammering is principally manifested in the articu- 
lating organs. Stuttering, on the other hand, is largely 
confined to the organs of respiration and vocalization. 
We have often heard it said that persons who stammer 
in conversation can sing without difficulty. This is 
generally the case, but not always. I occasionally 
come in contact with persons who experience the same 
impediment in singing as in talking. Their efforts to 
articulate certain syllables in singing meet with the 
same hindrance as is manifested in their conversation. 
Such cases, however, are rare, f All movements of the 
human body are brought about by the action of 
muscles that are attached to movable apparatuses and 
are made to operate through the medium of the nerves. 
Without the proper co-operation of the muscles, it is 
impossible to accomplish anything. Thoughts originate 
in the brain, — the brain acts upon the nerves, — the 
nerves act upon the muscles, — the muscles act upon the 
bones, — and only after this process are we able to under- 
take any act. If the process of action is one of harmony, 
the act will be successfully accomplished. If, however, 
after the origin of thought, there is an inability to 
accomplish or perform any ordinary human action, the 
deficiency is due to a lack of co-ordination. This lack 
of co-ordination of action, when spoken of in connection 
with or as related to the production of words, is the 
source from which originates or develops all forms of 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

abnormal speech. The humiliation of stammering, the 
desire to speak fluently, and the fear that he may not 
be able to do so, keeps the stammerer in a state of con- 
stant mental emotion. It is owing to this condition of 
continued fear that we have associated with stammering 
so much nervousness. 

With the aid of a number of my pupils who are present 
with us this evening, I will endeavor to practically demon- 
strate to you, as far as possible, my mode of treatment.* 

My manner of dealing with the stammerer is prob- 
ably different to any that has heretofore been intro- 
duced, my own experience as a sufferer having given 
me a keener knowledge of the stammerer's nature than 
I could possibly otherwise have gained. 

The first pupil I will introduce to you this evening 
appeared before you at your last regular meeting, and, 
as you remember, was utterly unable to read or speak 
three connected words. He applied to me personally 
for treatment, and was obliged to indicate by signs and 
by writing his wishes. The contortions of his face, you 
will remember, were most painful. He will address 
you to-night, and I want you to note carefully his 
complete change. 

I will also introduce to you a pupil who has been 
under my treatment but three weeks, who stammered 
continually for many years, and who will tell you in a 
fluent and conversant manner of his remarkable cure. 



*A number of pupils under treatment expressed their desire to attend 
this lecture and asked permission to submit themselves for examination to 
the members of the Detroit Academy of Medicine as evidence of the thor- 
oughness of the treament they had undergone. 

— 101 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

I have also with me a pupil who has been under 
other treatments at several different periods during his 
life, from which he says he received no perceptible 
benefit, and who will, I am sure, be pleased to relate to 
you some of his former experiences. You may talk 
to these gentlemen and to my other pupils with me this 
evening, and I do not believe any of them will stam- 
mer, notwithstanding they are all here in Detroit for 
treatment, some of them having come long distances to 
attend my Institute. 

Before asking the gentlemen to address you, I will 
endeavor to demonstrate (as far as the time allotted for 
this lecture will allow) the mode of treatment I follow 
in my school from day to day, and from which we have 
been able to obtain the results you see manifested here 
before you. 

I can, of course, give you but an idea of the work 
that is carried on daily in my Institution, owing to the 
fact that I am obliged to demonstrate within an hour's 
time what usually requires from three to eight weeks to 
accomplish. * 

From four to five hours each day we exercise our 
pupils after this manner. Vocal and physical exercises 
are also introduced and generally by a series of exer- 
cises founded on an educational basis of disciplining 
the pupil to do exactly as he is told, he gradually gains 
perfect confidence and freedom of speech. 



*A half hour was, at this point of the lecture, devoted to the practical 
demonstration of the I^ewis Phono-Metric Method of treatment, used largely 
in effecting a cure. 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

At first, the instruction to the pupil is usually pri- 
vate, and after he has made sufficient progress to war- 
rant it, he is obliged to perform before a portion of the 
class what he has already done in my presence. If he 
can do this successfully, other pupils are introduced, 
and he is placed under the most embarrassing condi- 
tions, made to read, to converse, to deliver impromptu 
speeches, is cross-questioned, and the most severe tests 
applied. If with perfect confidence he proves himself 
capable to fully stand these tests, he is then permitted 
for a few days to talk at leisure to myself or to the 
other pupils, asking any questions he desires or he may 
enter into general conversation. If, after this time, we 
find that he does not stammer, he is permitted to join 
our question-asking expedition and is allowed to talk to 
any one or every one — the- more the better. 

It is impossible to tell definitely when he enters the 
length of time any pupil will require for treatment. It 
largely depends upon his application to his work and 
his aptitude and comprehension. 

The average person, however, has been obliged to 
remain from three to six weeks. 



Author's Note: ^ The reader must not infer from the above that pupils 
attending our Institute are in any manner asked to submit themselves to 
criticism either in a public way or otherwise. On the contrary, we are 
extremely careful to maintain the utmost privacy for those who place them- 
selves under our treatment and care. We never mention the names of our 
pupils without permission, and, when desired, the strictest confidence and 
secrecy of correspondence or attendance is preserved. As already stated, the 
gentlemen who attended this lecture expressed their desire to be present, 
knowing that they would be called upon to address the members of the 
society. Notwithstanding this caution they decided to attend in a body and 
were highly complimented on all sides for the success of their undertaking. 

— 103 — 



CAUSE AND CURE 

OF 

SPEECH DEFECTS 

And the Conditions That Render Stammering 
Curable 



A paper read before the Convention of the National Association of Elocution- 
ists of America, held at Detroit, Mich., 1896, June 24 to July 3. 

I KNOW of no other subject demanding the same 
consideration and attention upon which so little has been 
written and said as the affliction of stammering. It has 
occurred to me that more has been accomplished for the 
advancement of the study of elocution during the past 
five years than for the cause of the stammerer during the 
whole of the bygone century. While relief for almost 
every other known infirmity has been carefully sought 
after, the cause of the stammerer has been sadly 
neglected. 

Schools for the deaf and dumb, institutes for the 
blind, homes for sick and friendless children, homes for 
the aged and infirm, asylums for the insane and incur- 
able, and many other such public institutions mark the 
charitable spirit of our country, while the affliction of 
stammering receives only a passing recognition. 

— 104 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

My own experience, having myself stammered for 
more than twenty years, together with a careful study of 
the subject and contact with a great number of persons 
who stammer, convinces me that a great majority of 
persons who are thus afflicted are themselves as ignorant 
of the real nature of their malady, as are the persons 
with whom they come in contact. They know they 
stammer, but further than this, concerning the cause and 
necessary means of correction of the evil, the great ma- 
jority of them know absolutely nothing. 

Before much can be accomplished along the line of 
advancing the cause of the stammerer, some radical 
changes will require to be effected. The stammerer will 
require to be educated to an appreciation of the neces- 
sary means of correction of his difficulty and the public 
in general enlightened regarding his neglected condition. 
I feel it unnecessary to speak in condemnation of the 
crude surgical practices for the relief of stammering re- 
sorted to during the early part of the present century. 
Those present who know the history of the art and 
science of treating stammering are aware of the awful 
results of which I speak. I shall not attempt to give 
you a history of these blunders. They were too many in 
number, would fill too many volumes, and would require 
too much time to here explain. They covered a period 
dating from the early history of Europe down to 1870, 
during which time the poor stammerer was butchered 
and tricked in every imaginable way. 

By those who have given serious thought and study 
to the subject, it is conceded that stammering is of men- 
tal origin. With persons who stammer, there seems to 

— 105 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

exist in the portion of the brain which governs and con- 
trols the motions requisite for the production of speech 
a difference of brain fibre from that of the ordinary in- 
dividual. The difference does not appear as one of 
structure, but of sensibility. This idiosyncrasy exposes 
the brain of the stammerer to be most easily disarranged 
and the organs co-operating thrown into spasmodic 
action by the ordinary mental desire to speak. In other 
words, there seems to be a lack of co-ordination and of 
harmonious action between thought and its transmission 
and conversion into articulate speech. Thoughts of the 
brain arising either from immediate sensation or other- 
wise are carried along through a succession of channels 
before they can be audibly expressed. Few of us, unless 
we have given careful study to the subject, know just 
what this process of transmission consists of. To better 
illustrate, let us imagine the transmission of thought 
from the brain and its conversion to expressed words 
and ideas a chain consisting of several links. The first 




link represents the systematic arrangement for produc- 
tion of thoughts and ideas that originate in the brain 
through our immediate sensations, or which take their 
origin in an abstract manner. 

The second link represents a determination or desire 
of the will to give expression to thought. 

— 106 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

The third link represents a generating influence of 
the will that moves to action any portion of the body. 
For the purpose of illustration, I have designated this 
influence " Motive Power." 

The fourth link represents the action of articulate 
speech. 

We have before us in the four links of this chain the 
process of transmission of thought to its conversion into 
audible expression, and a complete analysis of speech, 
which, I trust, will better enable us to discover the stam- 
merer's defect. 

It will now require an investigation and examination 
on our part of the different links which make up this 
chain to find the point at which the functions concerned 
cease to harmonize. As long as the process of transmis- 
sion is harmonious, the results will be most satisfactory. 
It is only when the organs concerned in the production 
of speech do not act in harmony that we hesitate or 
stammer. 

Let us turn our attention to the first link of the chain 
before us. Is the elaboration of thought and its arrange- 
ment for production in the brain of the stammerer, un- 
systematic ? Do we find this to be true ? If true, the 
stammerer, intellectually speaking, would not only be 
weak-minded, but would also be lacking of intelligence. 
The fact that many of the brightest men the world has 
known have stammered would appear as evidence 
against such a conclusion, and I think any further argu- 
ment on this point is unnecessary. I think it is generally 
admitted that the stammerer is not weak of intellect, but 
on the contrary, many persons who stammer are superior 

— 107 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

in this respect to some persons who are gifted with per- 
fect fluency. 

From an examination of the second link it would 
appear that there can be nothing lacking in the desire 
of the stammerer to express himself. If so, the defect 
must amount to either an excessive or deficient energy, 
resulting in an inability to give physical action to 
internal thought. If the difficulty of stammering were 
due to a defect at this point, we would find that, as 
well as the organs of speech, other organs of the body 
would fail to respond to our desire. 

Again, let us consider the case of the infant. Take, 
for illustration, the child who has inherited the original 
defect of the stammerer. It, as well as the adult, can 
only make known its wants by means of physical action, 
and if the defect of stammering were due to an excessive 
or deficient mental desire, we would find this child, be- 
fore speech was complete, would be not only wholly un- 
able to express itself, but would betray all the symptoms 
of the stammerer. It has been found, however, that 
such children do not betray their malady until a more 
complex action is required of them than the mere act of 
desiring. This, to me, is conclusive evidence that the 
difficulty of stammering is not attributable to any 
deficiency at the point under consideration. 

Before examining the third link of our chain, let us 
proceed to consider the fourth. I believe stammering 
to be of more obscure origin than is generally believed. 
True, the outward manifestations to the observer are 
wholly confined to the organs of speech and, at first 
thought, it would appear that the cause of the difficulty 

— 108 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

might be attributable to wrongly formed speaking 
organs. If stammering were due to an organic defect 
of the organs of speech, we would find persons who are 
thus afflicted would always have exactly the same diffi- 
culty on the same words and under the same conditions. 
We find, on the contrary, however, that persons who 
stammer are at times able to converse in a perfectly 
fluent manner without the least hesitation, while at other 
times they are unable to speak three connected words 
or to raise their voices to make an audible whisper. I 
am willing to admit that persons who stammer are as 
liable to organic defect of the organs of speech as are 
persons who are not afflicted, but do not believe that 
the percentage of persons who suffer from organic 
defect of the speaking organs is any larger among 
stammerers than among other persons not addicted to 
stammering. Furthermore, I have never found, in a 
single case of stammering, the least defect in the organs 
of articulation. I therefore conclude that the action 
of speech itself is, with the stammerer, perfect and 
complete. 

We have now examined all but the third link of our 
chain, and having found nothing to indicate the origin of 
the stammerer's difficulty, let us proceed to examine 
the third. This link joins mental desire with physical 
action and would appear as the point where the current 
of thought is connected with the movable apparatus of 
articulate speech. Up to this point the process of trans- 
mission is but mental. Here the current of thought is 
connected with the dynamo of human mechanism, and 
like a flash mental desire is transmitted and transformed 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

into moving living action. This point of contact may 
be the source of all forms of abnormal speech. The 
mental energy of the will fails to generate to action the 
required stimulus of mind and body necessary to the 
proper co-ordination and harmony of the functions con- 
cerned in the proper production of perfect speech. The 
lack of harmony thereby occasioned results in stammer- 
ing and, as previously stated, the point of contact would 
appear as the real source and origin of the stammerer's 
difficulty. 

The unsuccessful efforts of many who have en- 
deavored to treat the stammerer I attribute to unfavor- 
able conditions. With favorable conditions and proper 
treatment, any case of stammering, no matter how se- 
vere, can be successfully treated. 

Let us consider for a moment the conditions favor- 
able to a perfect cure : 

First, any treatment, to successfully overcome stam- 
mering, will require to establish a foundation upon which 
to build. 

Second, this foundation can be explained as the 
basis from which the child, during earliest infancy, 
evolves the proper manner of talking. To establish 
such a foundation means a return to the fundamental 
principles of breath and tone production, with a well- 
directed force of will against the mental influences of 
stammering and the unnatural conditions that have 
arisen. 

The third condition to a successful treatment will 
require an instructor who, from a personal experience 
of stammering, can appreciate the feelings of the stam- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

merer and know the trend of the mental influences that 
act in discord. Such a person with a well-directed 
force of will power constantly exerted in the right direc- 
tion can successfully direct the stammerer to a proper 
deliberation of action. 

The fourth condition to ' a successful treatment will 
require for the stammerer a home life surrounded with 
moral and persuasive influences, directly under the care 
and watchfulness of his instructor, where, from day to 
day during treatment, the necessary care can be easily 
exerted. 

The sixth condition to a favorable treatment will re- 
quire that the stammerer may be surrounded with a 
number of others who are similarly afflicted, that he 
may constantly be reminded by them of the grave im- 
portance of careful attention to training. 

The seventh condition to a successful treatment is 
proper .food and nourishment for the stammerer. His 
changes of diet, hour for retiring, and habit of stimu- 
lants will require to be carefully restricted. 

These conditions earnestly sought after and strictly 
adhered to will make favorable for successful treatment 
the most severe cases of stammering you can possibly 
imagine. 



INSTITUTIONAL AND HOME TREATMENT 



THERE are many diversities of opinion as to what 
constitutes a good treatment for the cure of stammering. 
To me a good treatment for the cure of stammering 
means much. To others it may mean the same, but their 
way of looking at the matter and my judgment of the 
affair may be entirely different. Thus I will endeavor 
to make plain my views and will tell what practical ex- 
perience has taught me to be, from all points considered, 
a good method of cure. 

Feeling that the influence of both the institute and 
the home are necessary in accomplishing the cure, I 
shall endeavor to point out to my reader a place for both, 
and throughout my discussion will try and make clear 
my ideas of the merits of each. The fact that I can count 
on the fingers of one hand but few institutes for the cure 
of stammering (within the last quarter of a century) that 
have proved successful, is evidence that there is a lack in 
management somewhere. I know of more than a score 
that have started apparently under the most favorable 
circumstances and have subsequently fallen by the way- 
side. Who is responsible for this? Was it a lack on the 
part of the instructor in his ability to effect the cure, or 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

was failure due to lack of business management? In 
the majority of cases both causes were responsible for 
failure. The first requisite necessary in successfully con- 
ducting an institution for the cure of stammering is an 
ability to effect the cure. I am satisfied also that no per- 
son excepting one who has himself tasted of this cup of 
galling bitterness is in a position to understand the feel- 
ings and condition of the stammerer. The circumstance 
that a person can cure a single case of stammering, or in 
fact that he can cure a number of cases, is no evidence 
that he could conduct successfully an institution where 
large numbers of persons thus afflicted are expected to 
congregate for the purpose of obtaining relief. To suc- 
cessfully conduct an institution of this kind it requires 
something more than an ability to cure, which is, however, 
as I have already said, an important element to success, 
in fact, the most important. Institutions must be con- 
ducted on a large scale to insure success. A small mer- 
cantile business will sometimes pay better returns for the 
money invested than larger concerns of a like nature, but 
a small institution for the cure of stammering run in 
a small way is nothing. Everything in and about a 
stammering school must have attention to insure good 
results. 

In the first place the system used to effect the cure 
is important. Whatever the system may be it must be 
complete. It requires, on the part of the teacher, a 
knowledge of all systems, without which and without 
the skill of an adept in applying them the results looked 
for may prove disappointing. Surprising as it may ap- 
pear to one unacquainted with this study, more depends 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

upon the thoroughness in applying certain principles 
than in the methods themselves. To know a thing and 
to do it are two entirely different things, and thus it re- 
quires not only familiarity with certain rules, but also 
that these rules and principles must be properly applied 
and carried out. 

There must be method in everything. Even as a 
large department store such as Wanamaker's, of Phila- 
delphia, or Siegel-Cooper's, of Chicago, could not suc- 
ceed without method, neither can an institution for the 
cure of stammering. The business methods of an insti- 
tution of this kind are as important to its success as its 
methods of cure. Correspondence should be well cared 
for. Letters carefully filed away; answers as carefully 
copied, and all correspondence kept as confidential as a 
sacred trust. A proper office system throughout should 
be maintained. A separate advertising department 
established, where all literature, pamphlets, circulars, 
and magazine advertising is properly taken care of. 
Bills due should be paid at once, in order to insure the 
financial rating or standing of the institution. Receipts 
should be made out and given to all persons paying 
money into the institution, however large or small, and 
the utmost economy practiced at all times. 

One reason I think that so many institutions for the 
cure of stammering have failed, is because of their many 
broken and unfulfilled promises. They picture things 
in an untrue light and gild their phrases with the warm- 
est coloring. This is a great mistake. We see the same 
principles carried out in everyday life. Every daily 
paper we read is filled with untruths. The advertise- 

— 114 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

ments of the majority of stores, many of them consid- 
ered reliable, are full of untruths. "Bankrupt Sales," 
" Going Out of Business," " one dollar a yard goods for 
fifty cents," " dissolution of partnership sales," and what 
not — all to deceive the public. Why not the truth? 
Isn't it better in the end ? Of course, and so it would 
have been better for many of these institutions now 
obliterated and dead had they not made so many prom- 
ises which they knew they, or anybody else, could not 
fulfill. 

In looking after their own pecuniary interests many 
of these institutions that have failed entirely lost sight of 
the pupils' welfare. Their object appeared to be to get 
all the money they could and give as little work for it 
in return as possible. The patient's interest should be 
considered first, in which way is the only way of serving 
the best interests of the institution. The fact of the mat- 
ter is the pupil makes the institution, and without that 
support which he gives, if rightly used, no institution 
can exist without loss. Here is a critical point, how- 
ever, as the teacher may (overambitious to serve his 
pupil and at the same time himself) indulge his pupil 
in liberties which he should not have with the fear that 
his order to desist will mean a separation of friendship. 
I know of but one way to overcome this obstacle. Teach 
the pupil to know that duty comes first. That all other 
issues to his cure are secondary and that you prefer his 
ill will and respect rather than his good will without it. 
Obedience is the first law of order and should be made 
infallible, as a principle with pupils in their duty to the 
instructor. 

— 115 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

Let the teacher establish a fixed rule in dealing with 
pupils and never deviate from a principle which experi- 
ence has taught him is best. Accept suggestions, but 
do not accept dictation from any pupil as to the treat- 
ment best adapted for his particular case. He comes 
not to instruct, but to learn ; not as a teacher, but as a 
pupil, and as such should be taught to obey. Let the 
teacher ask kindly that his instructions shall be fulfilled, 
and carry himself with such dignity as will maintain 
the respect and confidence of his pupils. If the pupil 
openly disobeys, let the teacher demand obedience, 
and if necessary exact it. The majority of pupils, 
however, are ever ready to obey, as in obedience to in- 
structions is embodied the elements of the cure. 

In considering the requisites of the institution, it 
can be authoritively stated that the influences of the 
home-life are absolutely necessary to the best interests 
of both teacher and pupil. In fact, I consider that at 
least 25 per cent, of the value of treatment in effecting 
the cure is in some instances due entirely to the influ- 
ences for good which all pupils under treatment for 
stammering should have cast around them. The care- 
fully guarded moral life of the ideal home should be 
made a permanent fixture of the institution. 

In the conduct of institutions for the cure of stam- 
mering this important feature has not been taken into 
consideration, and for this reason, if from no other, 
such schools have been short lived. To insure success 
the management of the institution should provide for 
its pupils a home equipped with all modern conven- 
iences, customary to modern ways of living. Not only 

— 116 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

in this respect should the home be provided for, as 
many a house equipped in the matter of modern con- 
veniences, is anything but a home. In speaking of the 
home, I refer more particularly to the influences and 
surroundings rather than to equipment and furnishing, 
which, however, are important if not indispensable. 

Everything in and about the home in connection 
with an institution for the cure of stammering should 
be kept scrupulously clean, neat, and cheerful. Read- 
ing rooms as well as a library should be provided for 
pupils, with plenty of wholesome literature. All the 
popular magazines of the day, such as the Century, 
Harper's, Scribner's, Munsey's, the Ladies' Home Jour- 
nal, the Youth's Companion and several dozen other 
papers of this class, as well as religious papers of high 
character, should be placed at the disposal of the pupils 
of the institute. 

The establishment of a home of this character, how- 
ever, in connection with an institution for the cure of 
stammering is not as easy a matter as it would appear. 
It costs thousands of dollars, but it means much to the 
stammerer, as it adds considerably to the value of his 
treatment. 

Parlors should be provided with pianos, as well as 
comfortable sitting chairs for retirement and ease, and 
every pupil of the institution, no matter what his former 
sphere of life has been, should be made to feel perfectly 
welcome to every portion of the home. Deportment 
and gentlemanly conduct should be made the only 
obligation in return for these many advantages, and 
with a carefully guarded life on the part of those who 

— 117 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

have charge of the home, the highest degree of success 
may be expected. 

While the institution owes the pupil a duty almost 
equal to an avowed obligation, the pupil in return owes 
the institution a duty equally as important. It is the 
part of the teacher to instruct, to encourage, to enthuse, 
and, if necessary, to exact or demand. It is the part of 
the pupil to obey, and not only to obey, but to do more 
than obey — to exert himself in his own behalf. 

There are many kinds of salaried employees — of 
which two distinct classes have always been apparent to 
the writer. That class of persons who work only for 
their own interests and do exactly what is expected of 
them for a fixed sum per day or per week. That class 
who in trying to serve their own interests try to serve 
also their employer's interest, and who show by their 
efforts that they are doing more than is expected of 
them. The former class always work for a fixed salary, 
which is never advanced. They are paid for exactly 
what they do, and they do exactly what they are paid for. 

The latter class generally find their way to the top, 
as the employer realizing the fact that they are doing 
more work than they are being paid for, will, if just, 
advance them accordingly. 

This same idea appears to prevail among persons 
under treatment for stammering. Some pupils work 
only to serve their own interests. They obey, but create 
no originality. They do exactly the amount of work 
demanded, but nothing more. 

The other class is that of pupils who work not only 
for their own interests, but also for the interests of their 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

fellow-sufferers. They make an effort of their own. 
They put forth a determination into their work that 
generates a like determination in others. They create 
an originality and do many things not absolutely re- 
quired of them, but which serve to advance them in 
their work. In this they are wise, as it is only in serving 
the best interest of the institution and of his fellow- 
sufferer that the stammerer will succeed in serving best 
his own interest. 

There is another class, and a most important one to 
the institution, as no institution can long succeed if ham- 
pered by its influence. This class is one of persons who 
are disinterested in their own cure. They come into the 
institution because their parents or friends want them 
cured. They feel no humiliation over their infirmity. 
They boast that it is their own business if they stammer, 
and say if other persons do not like their style of talking 
they do not have to. Such persons should be barred 
from treatment, as their presence is always harmful to 
others, and, besides, effort to cure them generally results 
in failure. They are as indifferent to treatment as they 
are to the opinions of those whom they torment with 
their stammering. 

To succeed in its efforts, the institution should en- 
deavor to instill into the life of every patient a determi- 
nation to succeed. No such word as "failure" should 
be permitted. Stammerers who come into the institute, 
not knowing the importance that attaches to willingness 
to obey, and personal effort on the part of the pupil 
should be taught the importance of these factors at the 
beginning. 

— 119 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

Those who put forth effort of their own and obey to 
the letter should be encouraged to the utmost, while 
those who are disinterested in their cure should not be 
permitted to enter. 

Rigid discipline in»treatment, with attention to detail 
by the pupil in following out instructions, together with 
carefulness on the part of the management in watching 
the progress of its pupils, will, if the above suggestions 
are carefully observed, add largely to the success of any 
institution for the cure of stammering. 

The advantages of the home-life in connection with 
the institution are shown in the benefit derived by pupils 
through association. In a school of this kind the co- 
operation of the pupil with his teacher is absolutely 
essential. He should be taught also to manifest an 
interest in others. In this way the subject becomes 
interesting to him. He soon learns to regard the cure 
as a study, and it is oftentimes surprising with what 
earnestness he will apply himself to solve the problem. 

Mr. A becomes interested in the phenomenon of 
Mr. B's case, while Mr. B is equally interested in study- 
ing the peculiarities of Mr. A's case, and so on through- 
out an entire class of ninety to a hundred pupils. Has the 
reader ever stopped to think what it means to have this 
many stammerers all collected together under one roof ; 
all living together, eating together, and working to- 
gether? It means a great work, I can assure you; but 
when these ninety to a hundred persons are constantly 
changing places, new ones coming and old ones going, 
it means in the course of a year many hundred patients. 
That all these persons should learn to co-operate with 



1 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

the teacher is one of the important elements to success ; 
but that they should also be brought into associa- 
tion, one with the other for each other's benefit, that 
they should in fact each strive to help the other, is a still 
greater element to success, and one of the most im- 
portant elements of the cure. In this way, in addition 
to the regular teaching staff of the school, every pupil 
has constantly from ninety to a hundred instructors, all 
interested in his cure and anxious to have him succeed. 

Another advantage to be derived from the home-life 
in the institution is that of making the pupil feel satisfied 
and cheerful. Naturally sensitive over his affliction, he 
does not care, to associate with persons who have no 
sympathy for him. He does not ask for sympathy, yet 
dislikes ridicule. Thus by bringing him into the home 
where he is constantly in association with others who 
are similarly afflicted, he is not exposed to the heart- 
lessness of unkind persons, which he might otherwise 
fall in with. 

There should be system in the home-life of the 
school as well as in the method of instruction. In this 
the advantages of a home for the pupil are without 
question of great value. He can be most carefully 
watched, and is at all times directly under the observa- 
tion of the faculty. His hour of retirement, his daily 
exercise, his diet, as well as his other habits, can all be 
carefully regulated. In this respect, if in no other, the 
advantages of the home are without question of more 
than real value to the pupil under treatment. 

In a word, the home provided for the pupil is as im- 
portant in accomplishing the cure as is the method of 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

instruction. The latter should be thorough, while the 
former should be adapted especially for comfort, con- 
venience, and accommodation. It should contribute to 
make the life of the stammerer a cheerful one ; it should 
surround him with wholesome and moral influences ; it 
should in fact be a Christian home in every sense of the 
word, and thus, while aiding in accomplishing the cure, it 
will also serve a two-fold purpose, that of adding to the 
life and character of the pupil. 

When you have made up your mind to enter an in- 
stitution for the cure of stammering, go in with all con- 
fidence in your instructor, belief in the cure, and a firm 
determination to win. I make this suggestion for two 
reasons : I have observed that the degree of success 
with which the pupil meets is always in direct ratio to 
his belief. I have also observed that pupils without 
confidence in their instructor lack also confidence in their 
cure. Fortunately I have had but few cases of this lat- 
ter kind to contend with, as the majority of persons 
suffering from stammering with whom I have come in 
personal contact are firm believers in the cure. However, 
I have occasionally met one who, owing either to former 
failure or to general skepticism, disbelieved in any method 
of cure, but who for the sake of experiment was willing 
to go in on a speculative basis. This is poor policy, 
and sometimes proves an expensive experiment in the 
end. It costs the same for treatment whether you be- 
lieve or disbelieve, whether you have confidence in your 
instructor or whether you lack confidence in him, and 
the results are always more gratifying to those who be- 
lieve. It is the hardest work in the world for a physi- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

cian to raise from a sick bed a patient who believes he 
is going to die. It is equally hard for the teacher to 
cure his pupil of stammering unless the pupil places 
confidence in the instruction. This class of disbelievers 
is detrimental to the best interests of both the institu- 
tion and its pupils, and often dampens the ardor of a 
whole school. Many of these persons who are thus 
skeptical, when brought into contact with the work of a 
well-conducted institution, lose their disbelief and be- 
come warm supporters of the methods employed. Their 
cure makes them so, for how could they be otherwise 
when they have actually become partakers in the enjoy- 
ment of that for which they have so long searched ? 

There is much truth in the statement that stammer- 
ing is a lack of confidence. I believe it is, and also that 
many persons stammer in their everyday actions with- 
out ever speaking a word. Stammering has sometimes 
presented itself to me in these words : " I don't know 
whether I can or not, I don't believe I can." 

The majority of my readers are persons who stam- 
mer. Have you ever felt that sensation of doubt ? Is 
not your first impression an impression of doubt, when 
approaching a word difficult of utterance ? Is not the 
second impression one of disbelief? You say "yes." 
What is the result? Your answer is, "failure." Thus 
many persons stammer without even uttering a word. 
They doubt their own ability to perform certain acts. 
"They don't know whether they can or not, they don't 
believe they can." They halt, hesitate, stumble, in 
fact, they stammer, and even though it be by act 
alone, without the sound of vocal utterance, neverthe- 

— 123 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

less it is characteristic of stammering, which in truth it 
really is. When, therefore, it is shown that stammer- 
ing is in form only a "lack of confidence," is it not a 
reasonable argument that the degree of success under 
treatment is always in ratio to the confidence of the 
pupil? Is not confidence that element which we are 
trying to establish? How then can we establish a 
cure unless we can establish a confidence? The fact 
of the matter is the cure consists largely of confidence, 
even as the defect is largely a lack of confidence. 
Take my advice then ; when you enter an institution, 
have confidence in the instruction. Do not go in on 
the belief that every man is a rogue until you prove him 
honest, but in considering your cure believe in your 
treatment that every man is honest until you prove him 
a rogue. This latter I confess is not a good policy to 
pursue in all things, but when the matter of establishing 
a cure for stammering is thus dependent upon the estab- 
lishing of confidence, it is well to believe from the be- 
ginning. I refer in this matter entirely to the pupil's 
conduct and belief after arriving at the institution. Be- 
fore entering such an institution, " make sure you are 
right and then go ahead." By this I mean take every 
precaution to thoroughly investigate its merits. If it 
bears favorable investigation and you are willing to 
" make the experiment," cast aside any disbelief which 
you may have previously entertained and abandon 
every doubt before enrolling yourself as a pupil. Stake 
everything in belief and have confidence in your cure 
to the uttermost degree. This will insure a cure in 
any case of stammering, it matters not how severe the 

-124- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

case may be, providing the pupil is willing to obey in- 
structions. Much of course depends upon the instruc- 
tion. I refer only to such instruction as one would 
expect to find in any well-conducted and well-regulated 
institution for the cure of stammering. 

The time was when such institutions did not exist, 
but with the advancement of science, new ideas have 
been developed along this line from which have 
evolved practical methods for the cure of stammering. 

To enumerate the many different methods that 
have been practiced for the cure of stammering within 
the past century, giving a description of each, would 
fill an entire book, and could prove of little benefit, if 
any, to the reader. In truth, I believe it would prove 
harmful, as much time at earlier periods was uselessly 
spent in vain efforts to obtain radical results. Only 
within the past few years have practical methods of cure 
been in use — the result of modern thought, investiga- 
tion, and invention. In fact, as recently as 1852, 
methods of surgery were largely practiced for the cure 
of stammering, and with harmful results, as is shown 
by the following extract, taken from "Stammering: 
Its Effects, Causes, and Remedies," by C. P. Bronson, 
M. D. Dr. Bronson was considered in his time an 
authority of unquestionable reputation, and concerning 
surgery as a remedy for stammering says : 

" I am also aware that some persons contend that 
stammering is caused by malformation of the vocal or- 
gans, which either produce or modify sound. But this 
opinion is incorrect, as is evident from the fact that it is 
caused by a disease which induces this impediment of 

— 125 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

speech. In consequence of this false notion, some grave 
professors of medicine and eminent surgeons have un- 
dertaken to cure stammering by operations, a few of 
which I witnessed some years ago in the medical de- 
partment of the New York University. Being person- 
ally interested in the subject, I took much pains to see 
individuals who had been operated upon as they came 
out of that college. I inquired of them whether they 
were cured. Their words and actions invariably replied 
in the negative. The operation I would observe," con- 
tinues Dr. Bronson, " was merely piercing the tongue 
transversely or cornerwise from about one-fourth of its 
corner side to its right upper side. In the name of 
common sense," says the Doctor, " what has such an 
operation on a modifier of sounds to do with the organs 
that produce the sound ? " 

Many such nonsensical ideas prevailed among early 
investigators, the results of which served only to dis- 
hearten the stammerer. Several deaths were reported 
from hemorrhage. Stammerers were mutilated and cut 
to pieces in every imaginable way. Tongues were cut, 
tonsils removed, needles were inserted into and passed 
through the base of the tongue, sharp-pointed instru- 
ments forced into the vocal cavities, gargles of various 
kinds used to allay the irritation, and powders adminis- 
tered to the patient with the hope of benefiting him. 

One writer says : " My attention was called to an 
advertisement which proposed to cure stammering in 
various ways. One man advertised to cure by a surgi- 
cal operation, which he said could be performed in the 
twinkling of an eye, and the stammerer was forever 

— 126 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

cured. I called on the performer (who dubbed himself 
Doctor), but without the least faith imaginable. In 
the center of his office stood a round table, on which 
was spread in beautiful confusion a quantity of surgical 
instruments such as dentists use. I made some in- 
quiries as to his mode of operation, price, etc., but with 
what little knowledge I then possessed of the structure 
of the human system I was confident that his apparatus 
was all a humbug, and not willing to be ' fleeced ' for 
the ninety-ninth time, I retired with his angry words 
ringing in my ears." 

Such was the condition of things up until as late a 
period as 1850. Earlier than that time matters were 
even much worse, as is shown by the unbalanced theo- 
ries of authors who unhesitatingly put their views into 
print. 

As already mentioned, it could only serve as pro- 
ductive of evil that I should discuss further or enlarge 
upon their worthless methods, nearly all of which have 
since been abandoned. Better that I should tell my 
reader what I consider to-day the best means of 
treatment, and bury these old, worn-out, and threadbare 
ideas in the grave of the past, where they so fittingly 
belong. 

The use of a surgeon's knife to effect a cure is not 
required in one case of stammering in a thousand. Only 
where malformation of the organs appear is it necessary 
to perform a surgical operation, and of such cases during 
my entire acquaintance with stammerers I have known 
only one. This single case was a complicated one in 
many respects, and it may be a relief to add that stam- 

— 127 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

mering was not due even in this instance to the malform- 
ation. It was necessary, however, in order to correct the 
articulation of the sufferer that an operation should be 
performed. As a matter of fact, his stammering habit 
was entirely cured before the operation was commenced, 
thus conclusively showing that there was no relation be- 
tween his stammering and the abnormality of his tongue. 
It simply happened that in addition to stammering he had 
unfortunately been born with a peculiarity which is some- 
times manifest in persons not addicted to stammering. 
Had he never stammered the operation would have been 
necessary just the same, in order to establish perfect artic- 
ulation. Malformation of the speaking organs among 
stammerers is very rare, and not at all more common 
than among persons not thus afflicted. 

Among letters received from many thousands of per- 
sons addicted to stammering, and from my personal 
acquaintance with a great number, I have recollection of 
but few instances where any defect other than that of 
stammering was manifested in the patient. As has been 
demonstrated again and again, surgery can only prove 
harmful where it is not necessary, and I know of no 
better illustration of the truth of this statement than in 
cases of stammering. The less the stammerer has to 
do with the knife of the surgeon the better for him in 
nine hundred and ninety-nine cases out of every thou- 
sand. 

I have always maintained and still believe that medi- 
cine is sometimes necessary in cases of stammering, even 
as I believe its use is necessary by many persons who do 
not stammer. I will go further than this, and say that it 

— 128 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

is particularly beneficial as an auxiliary in some peculiar 
cases of the intermittent class, where the physical condi- 
tion of the sufferer has much to do with his ease in talk- 
ing. Stammerers who suffer from exhausted vitality or 
who have weakened energy, in applying themselves may 
oftentimes profit by the advice and attention of a good 
family physician. Any reputable doctor will tell you, 
however, that the less medicine you take the better for 
you. A judicious amount of exercise, plenty of sleep 
and rest, and good, wholesome diet are in the majority 
of instances much better than medicine. Often a mild 
tonic is necessary or even a physic to arouse the liver ; 
but other than this, unless there is some chronic ailment, 
leave medicine alone. 

All good methods for the cure of stammering should 
have incorporated into their regimen a graded system of 
physical exercises. Graded, for the reason that what 
might prove beneficial to one patient would be harmful 
for another. From the fact that mental energy and will- 
power, upon which good talking largely depends, are 
largely induced and augmented by judicious exercise, 
one who stammers should take every opportunity that 
presents itself to put himself in the "pink" of condition 
physically. 

That physical exercise is beneficial in the treatment 
of stammering, no recognized authority disputes ; exer- 
cises to develop the torso, and for the development of the 
muscles of the neck, being especially productive of good. 
Physical exercise in a general way, such as one will re- 
ceive in the ordinary first-class gymnasium where the 
regimen is directed by a well-informed instructor must 

9 —129 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

also serve to lessen the severity of the stammerer's dif- 
ficulty. The reason for this is not at first apparent, but 
when one stops to consider that such exercises serve to 
subjugate the muscles to the power and influence of the 
mind the object is readily made clear. Who will say 
that by disciplining the muscles of the body to obey 
the commands of the will we have not gained the first 
step in harmonizing this inharmonious action? I have 
always maintained that breathing exercises for the de- 
velopment of the organs of respiration were highly bene- 
ficial to the stammerer as a means in overcoming his 
impediment, but have never advocated their use wholly 
as a means of physical development. My purpose in 
using breathing exercises is not wholly because they 
strengthen the organs of respiration, nor because 
they serve to increase the capacity of the lungs. 
Stammering is not due to incorrect breathing habits, 
which latter are generally the result of stammering. 
Neither is stammering due to an undercapacity of the 
lungs. 

Why then use breathing exercises in overcoming 
the defect? My answer is "for the same reason that I 
would use physical exercises, for the same reason that I 
would use vocal exercises." Physical exercises are well 
adapted to improve the general health and physique of 
the sufferer ; breathing exercises are beneficial to aid 
in this physical development, and vocal exercises serve 
to mellow and strengthen the voice, which is good even 
to persons not afflicted with stammering. These exer- 
cises, however, as used in connection with a treatment 
for the cure of stammering should, while intended as an 

— 130 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

auxiliary to the general health of the sufferer, be given 
for the purpose of mental discipline. 

I will endeavor to make myself clear in this state- 
ment by saying that the defect of the stammerer is in 
the mind,* not in a weakened voice, not in general 
physical weakness nor in incorrect habits of breathing. 
These latter are all the result of stammering and are 
generally associated with the defect, and often serve to 
aggravate it, but should never be attributed as a cause. 

Stammering is manifested in a lack of ready and 
harmonious response of the muscles of the body to the 
commands of the will. It is therefore by making the 
muscles obey the will that we principally succeed in 
overcoming the defect. To do this we must give the 
mind absolute control over every muscle of the body, 
and whether it be a muscle concerned in the production 
of speech or not it must be disciplined to obey. If we 
would control the unruly muscles we must obtain a more 
ready response from each and every one. We must be 
able to control them separately, in pairs, and together. 
Desire must become a command, and command law. 

To accomplish this we must summon to our aid 
every exercise where mind and muscle may act one upon 
the other, and by means of a process of educational 
training we strengthen both, teach the latter to act in 
conformity with the commands of the former harmoni- 
ously and with precision. 

As an illustration let us for example execute costal 
breathing. We place the flat portion of the hands upon 



* See footnote page 27 

— 131 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

the sides just beneath the arm pits, and by inhaling 
through the nostrils we inflate the lungs in such a man- 
ner as to extend the muscles of the sides while the body 
assumes a flattened position from front to back. In per- 
forming this exercise we direct the mind to action and by 
exercising the will and centralizing it for a few moments 
we force into quick and ready obedience those muscles 
which, as the result of stammering, oftentimes refuse at 
first to obey. Other forms of breathing are similarly exe- 
cuted, until finally the mind becomes all powerful in 
command. Physical exercises serve much the same pur- 
pose. The gymnast will tell you physical exercises, if 
practiced regularly, give the mind control of the body. 
This is seen in the great muscular feats performed by 
such men as Sandow, who by the command of his will 
alone could knot every cord and muscle of his body. 
Many can move the muscles of their scalp without a per- 
ceptible movement from any other portion of their entire 
body. The same is true of the muscles of their chest, 
back, legs, and arms, over all of which they have absolute 
control either individually or collectively. And all this 
control is but the result of continually practiced mental 
disciplinary exercise, the organs of the body being dis- 
ciplined and educated to obey the dictates of the mind. 
The same theory that applies to breathing and physical 
exercises is also true in vocal exercise. Much as has 
been said by others about the advantages of breathing, 
vocal and physical exercises for the treatment of stam- 
mering, I have never heard it advocated nor have I ever 
read that they were intended for any other purpose than 
for the mere object of simple corrections in incorrect 

— 132 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

breathing habits, for the development of the voice or for 
strengthening a weakened organism. I have always been 
aware they served for all these purposes and that they 
are highly beneficial, but their better purpose has never 
been outlined to me. It has come to me through real 
experience in the treatment of hundreds of cases, that the 
object of such exercises as I have mentioned when used 
in connection with methods for the cure of stammering 
is for a better purpose than is generally believed — that 
of disciplining the muscles of the body to obey the com- 
mands and dictates of the mind. 



— i33- 



THE MECHANISM OF SPEECH * 



It HAS been said that stammering is caused by a 
want of due control of the mind over the vocal organs ; 
and as the brain is the seat of the mind, let us consider 
its physiological construction and functions. 

The brain is divided into two parts, the cerebrum 
and the cerebellum. The cerebrum fills the front and 
upper part of the skull and comprises about seven- 
eighths of the entire weight of the brain. In appearance 
it resembles an English walnut. It is divided into two 
parts, the same as the meat of a walnut or hickory nut, 
and like them is curiously wrinkled and folded with 
convolutions. The greater the number and deepness of 
the convolutions the greater the mental power. 

The cerebellum lies below the cerebrum and is in 
the back part of the head. Its structure is similar to 
that of the brain proper, but instead of convolutions it 
has parallel ridges, which give it a peculiar appearance, 
called the arborvitae or tree of life. 

The cerebrum is the seat of the mind. It is the 
function which the cerebrum performs that distinguishes 
man from all other animals and it is through the action 
of the cerebrum that he becomes a conscious, intelligent, 



* Extract from the Phono-Meter, a monthly paper exclusively for per- 
sons who stammer ; edited and published by Geo. Andrew I<ewis.— See last 
page. 

— 134 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

and responsible being. The cerebrum is the center of 
thought. Persons in whom it is seriously injured often 
become unable to converse intelligently, both from in- 
ability to remember words and from loss of power to 
articulate them. 

The cerebellum, lying between the base of the cere- 
brum and the upper part of the spinal cord or an 
expansion of the cord called the medulla oblongata, is 
the center for the control of the voluntary muscles. 

There are two kinds of muscles, the voluntary and 
the involuntary. The voluntary muscles are those con- 
trolled by the will. If we see a dime, the mind sends a 
message over the motory nerve to the controlling 
muscles of the arm and fingers to act, to get into motion, 
to pick it up, and the muscles having always been accus- 
tomed to do the mind's bidding without any doubting, 
work harmoniously. Therefore the muscles of the arm 
and fingers and all such muscles are voluntary because 
they are controlled by the will. Without any message 
from the mind, our hearts beat day in and day out, year 
in and year out. This throbbing of the heart is beyond 
the control of the will and hence the heart is the best 
example of an involuntary muscle. However, as we can 
wink when we wish to and we can't help but wink every 
so often, the muscles of the eyelid are both voluntary 
and involuntary. 

Of all cases, the inherited case is the worst. In the 
inherited case, there is an inherited abnormal condition 
from the very first, and if the child is given the proper 
instruction in articulation, vocalization, and breathing, 
and is taught to have confidence in his ability to talk, 

— 135 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING, 

and knows just how to speak, then this knowledge be- 
comes a power, and he can converse without any fear, 
because he knows just how to make the vocal organs 
obey the will. But if his case is neglected, his life be- 
comes one of constant fear and embarrassment. If a 
kind friend, a loving teacher, or a fond parent does not 
give the needed instruction, and leaves the child in fear 
and trembling to carve out his own self-cure, he may 
yield to the taunts of his thoughtless schoolmates or 
playmates and slowly lose what little will-power he may 
have, and gradually get worse and worse. 

The reason parents and teachers do not give instruc- 
tion to such children is because they do not know how, 
nor do they know what kind of instruction is needed, 
and many times think the child will outgrow it. They 
never outgrow it, however. But you say you know of 
persons who stammered when in youth who do not after 
coming to maturity. Did they not outgrow it? No. 
After they became old enough to think, they began to 
study their case, and by study and practice they effected 
a self-cure, or greatly modified the impediment. 

Voice is sound produced by the vibrations of the 
vocal cords in the larynx. At the top of the windpipe 
or trachea, leading from the lungs, is an enlargement, 
commonly called " Adam's apple," but really the larynx, 
or voice box. If a small mirror, attached to a long 
handle, be placed back into the upper part of the throat 
(the handle near the mirror must be at an angle of 45 
degrees, so that we may look " around the corner," so 
to speak) behind the tongue we may see the image as 
drawn in Fig. 1. 

— 136 — 




FIG 1 



IMAGE OF VOCAL APPARATUS, AS SEEN IN A MIRROR HELD FAR BACK IN 
THE MOUTH— From Dr. Cohen's " Health Primer." 

By placing a little mirror into the back part of the open mouth while 
the latter is well illuminated, we are able to see an image of the interior of 
the larynx, and observe in greater part the mechanism of the vocal bands 
in the acts of respiration and production of voice. In this way the register 
of the voice, as it is termed, can be studied optically, and its transition 
points be noted by inspection. The credit of the first successful demonstra- 
tion of this kind belongs to Signor Manuel Garcia, of London, a teacher of 
vocal music, who in 1854 devised the plan in the interest of vocal art. The 
manipulation is well known to physicians, who frequently employ it for 
observing the conditions of the parts in disease. — Cohen. 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

The vocal cords A A are shown in the mirror M as 
narrow bands, on each side of the central opening P. 
The rings partly seen through the central opening be- 
long to the trachea P. The vocal cords A A are two 
elastic bands fastened across the larynx between which 
the air from the lungs passes out. 

The arrangement resembles two strips of India rub- 
ber stretched across the mouth of a glass tube, into 
which air is forced by a bellows. When the air passed 
out of the tube the edges of the rubber strips would 
vibrate with sufficient rapidity to produce sound. Dur- 
ing ordinary tranquil breathing no sound is produced 
by the larynx, true vocal sounds being formed only 
during forcible expiration, when, by an effort of the will, 
the cords are brought close together, and are stretched 
so as to be very tense. The space between them is then 
reduced to a narrow slit, at times not more than one- 
hundredth of an inch in width. 
FIG. 2 




o^Sr^ 





In this figiire A A represents the vocal cords, B represents the position 
during inspiration, when taking air into the lungs, C represents the position 
of the vocal cords in the formation of the lower notes, and D the formation 
of the higher notes. 

Voice differs from speech, which is the production 
of sounds to express ideas. The moo of a cow is voice 

-138- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

without speech, while whispering is speech without 
voice. Speech is the result of the action of the cavity 
of the throat above the larynx, in which the tongue, lips, 
teeth, and palate change the voice into articulate sounds, 
which put together form words. 

Speech is voice modulated by the throat, tongue, and 
lips ; the modulation being accomplished by changing 
the form of the cavity of the mouth and nose through 
the action of muscles, which move their walls. Voice 
is produced by vibration of the vocal cords in the larynx, 
which act upon the air, as the strings of a musical in- 
strument or a pair of membranous tongues, or reeds, 
which, being continually forced apart by the outgoing 
current of breath, and constantly brought together again 
by their own elasticity and muscular tension, break the 
breath current into a series of puffs, or pulses, sufficiently 
rapid to cause the sensation of tone. Stuttering is 
restricted by some physiologists to defective speech. 
Any defective speech, it seems, speaking generally, 
is stuttering. Stuttering is due to the inability to form 
the proper sounds, the breathing being normal as 
distinguished from stammering. To stutter is to 
hesitate or stumble in uttering words, to speak with 
spasmodic repetitions or pauses. Stammering is a 
disturbance in the formation of sounds and is due 
essentially to mental emotion and to long-continued 
spasmodic contraction of the diaphragm. In general 
as commonly used, stuttering is the repeated utter- 
ance of one sound before the next can be emitted ; 
stammering the temporary inability to articulate, the or- 
gans being held tightly together. Stuttering is a defect 

— 139 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 



in respiration ; stammering an in- 
ability to control the organs of 
speech. 

Speech is an art that should 
be cultivated. Conversation is an 
instrument of acquirement and can 
be used with power and ease only 
through much practice. Let us 
look at the organs of speech. The 
organs of respiration and voice are 
the larynx, the trachea, and the 
lungs. In the neck is a promi- 
nence sometimes called "Adam's 
apple." It is the front of the 
larynx. This is a small triangu- 
lar, cartilaginous box, just below 
the root of the tongue, and at the 
top of the trachea. 

On each side of the 
glottis (Fig. 4) are the 
vocal cords (B C.) 
They are merely elastic 
membranes, projecting 
from the sides of the 
box, across the opening. 
When not in use they 
spread apart and leave a 
V-shaped orifice through 
which the air passes to 
and from the lungs. When 
the cords are tightened, 




FIG. 3 



Figure No. 3 is a drawing representing 
(C C) a section of the lungs, (B) the trachea 
or windpipe, and (A) the front view of the 
larynx. In this drawing the larynx is shown 
as a triangular, muscular box, and does not 
show the glottis which is shown in figure 4. 



140 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 




ENLARGED VIEW OF VOCAL APPARATUS SHOWN ALSO IN FIG. 1 

In Figure No. 4 is represented a view of the throat showing glottis, and 
vocal cords. The opening into the trachea or windpipe (A) from the throat 
through the opening between the vocal cords (B C) is called the glottis. 



the edges approach sometimes within one hundredth of 
an inch of each other, and, being thrown into vibration, 
cause corresponding vibrations in the current of air. 
Thus sound is produced in the same manner as by the 
vibrations of the tongues of a mouth organ, or the strings 
of a violin, only in this case the strings are scarcely an 
inch long. The higher tones of the voice are produced 
when the cords are short, tight, and closely in contact; 
the lower by the opposite conditions. Loudness is 
regulated by the quantity of air and force of expulsion. 
A falsetto voice is thought to be the result of a peculiar- 
ity in the pharynx, or back of the nose. When boys 
are about fourteen years old, the larynx enlarges and 
the cords grow proportionately longer and coarser ; 

— 141 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

hence the voice becomes deepened, or, as we say, 
" changes." The change may occur very suddenly, the 
voice breaking in a single night. The tongue is styled 
the " unruly member " and is held responsible for all the 
tattling of the world ; but when the tongue is removed 
the adjacent organs in some way largely supply the 
deficiency, so that speech is still possible. Huxley de- 
scribes the conversation of a man who had two and one- 
half inches of his tongue preserved in spirits, and yet 
could converse intelligibly. Only two letters (t and d) 
were beyond his power ; the articulation of these in- 
volves the employment of the tip of the tongue ; hence, 
"tin" he converted into "fin" and "dog" into " thog." 
As said at the beginning, speech is voice modulated by 
the lips, tongue, palate, and teeth. An artificial larynx 
may be made by using elastic bands to represent the 
vocal cords and by placing above them chambers 
which by their resonance will produce the same effect 
as the cavities above the larynx. An artificial speak-" 
ing machine was constructed by Kempelen, which 
could pronounce such sentences as " I love you with 
all my heart," in different languages by simply touch- 
ing the proper keys. Speech and voice are commonly 
associated, but speech may exist without the voice ; al- 
though there is no vocalization, i. e., no action of the 
larynx. Whispering is articulation without vocalization, 
talking is articulation with vocalization. The difference 
between vocalization and nonvocalization is seen in a 
sigh and a groan, the latter being the former vocalized. 
The method of modulating voice into speech may be 
seen by producing the pure vowel sounds a, e, i, o, and 

— 142 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

u from one expiration, the mouth being kept open 
while the form of the aperture is changed for each 
vowel by the tongue and lips. H is only an explosion, 
or forcible throwing of a vowel sound from the mouth. 
In sounding singly any one of the letters we can detect 
its peculiar requirements. Thus M and N can be made 
only by blocking the air in the mouth and sending it 
through the nose ; L lets the air escape at the sides of 
the tongue ; R needs a vibratory movement of the 
tongue ; B and P stop the breath at the lips ; K and G 
at the back of the mouth or palate. 

Stammering depends upon control of the mind ; 
upon the lack of confidence in the ability to talk. It 
is the result of an inability of the will to control the or- 
gans of speech properly, and the inability of a ready 
response to the will by the organs themselves. How- 
ever, the will power is one of the great factors in estab- 
lishing a cure. Stammering generally develops in 
youth and is strengthened by years of growth, and un- 
less the person has will power as he advances in years 
it will be harder for him to cure himself or be cured. 

One type of stammering that I will speak of is that 
accompanied by unnatural respiration. Its power lies in 
habit, the mismanagement of the breath being rendered 
habitual before the development of the higher intel- 
lectual faculties which govern. One affected thus must 
endeavor to gain control over the organs of respiration, 
letting the will make what was an involuntary action a 
voluntary one until proper habit results. In natural or 
abdominal breathing, when the inspiration occurs, the 
abdomen is protruded outward and when the breath is 

— 143 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

exhaled the abdomen is compressed inward (see Fig. 5). 
But this manner of breathing is not practiced by the 
majority of stammerers who use the following ab- 
dominal method: The upper thorax is expanded and 
the abdomen is drawn in during the inspiration and 






v 



I 



FIG. 5 



FIG. 6 



during expiration the upper thorax is returned to its 
normal position (see Fig. 6). 

Alexander Bell has said : " There can neither be 
distinct nor graceful articulation if the vocal organs 
have not a proper position," and, although indistinctness 
is but a trifle compared with stammering, let us ex- 
amine and see if it cannot be removed, as it would tend 
to the formation of that impediment. The follow- 
ing sketches, which represent the throat cleft in twain, 
show the correct and incorrect positions of the throat 
for articulation. In Fig. 7 the larynx has been forced 
down the throat as far as possible, and consequently 



144 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

the tongue, which is attached to it, has also been drawn 
down, causing it to be flattened at its base. Thus we 
see that the throat, including the pharynx, has been 
enlarged and the air column given a larger vibrating 
space, resulting in an increase of the volume of sound. 
The volume is further intensified and given a more 
musical quality by the column of air striking the hard 
palate in the forward part of the mouth. But when 
the throat assumes the shape as portrayed in Fig. 8 
the column of air encounters the soft palate far back in 
the throat and the vibrating space is greatly lessened. 
Hence a throaty and suppressed sound is the result. 





FIG. 8 



CORRECT SHAPE OF THROAT 
FOR ENUNCIATION 



INCORRECT SHAPE OF THROAT 
FOR ENUNCIATION 



145 — 



RELATIONS OF THE BODY AND MIND 
TO STAMMERING* 



The relations of the body and mind to stammering 
is such a complex and difficult subject for an inquiry, 
that I do not write this* with the hope of doing full 
justice to it, but because of my experience as a sufferer 
I feel justified in writing upon it. No one can be more 
deeply sensible than I am how little exact our knowl- 
edge is of the bodily conditions of mental functions 
and how much of that which we think we know is 
vague, uncertain, and fluctuating. In this article I am 
going to attempt to analyze the different mechanisms 
and powers which act upon the greatest gift that God 
has bestowed upon man. One great error which many 
stammerers make is that they are satisfied to know 
what stammering is and its effect upon them, but do 
not endeavor to examine into the intricate machinery 
which governs speech. It is self-evident that no one 
can repair a machine until he knows the workings of 
its parts. Within the memory of men now living, 
stammering was such a special study and its treatment 
such a special art that it stood quite aloof from general 
science in a mysterious and mischievous isolation, owing 



Extract from the Phono-Meter. See last page. 
— 146 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

little or nothing to the results of progress in other 
branches of science, and contributing little to its prog- 
ress. The reason for this is not hard to discover. The 
habit of viewing mind as an intangible entity, or incor- 
porate essence, which science inherited from theology, 
prevented men from subjecting its phenomena to the 
same method of investigation as other natural phenom- 
ena, consequently the treatment of stammering was 
sadly neglected, men of science not even attempting to 
apply scientific methods to the alleviation or cure, but 
the sufferer was generally in the hands of quacks, 
whose barbarous methods shall for all time to come be 
a great and ugly blot upon the enlightenment of the 
age which tolerated them. Nevertheless there were 
some men of the medical profession who viewed the 
defect from a physical standpoint and operated upon 
the stammerer. 

These methods are now of the past, since they will 
no longer be tolerated. Science has been making 
rapid strides in the right direction, and now stammering 
is viewed as a mental defect, with only a secondary 
defect of the physical apparatus. In fact, the physical 
defect is merely a weakness, the result of the mental 
one. The mental suffering of physical pain of an emo- 
tion tends to actual wear and tear of the nerve element. 
We may take it beyond question that when a shock 
imparted to the mind through the senses causes a vio- 
lent emotion, it produces a real commotion in the 
molecules of the brain. 

In order to make my analysis clear, I shall divide 
the subject into two parts for investigation, viz.: The 

— 147~ 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

physical apparatus, and the mental apparatus. The 
first is easily dealt with, as for centuries each part has 
been minutely examined, and we are guided by facts 
which have been practically demonstrated. A brief de- 
scription will suffice to give the reader sufficient knowl- 
edge to work from a proper basis. It is constructed in 
the following manner : At the root of the tongue lies a 
minute semilunar shaped bone which, from its resem- 
blance to the Greek letter v (upsilon), is called the 
hyoid or u-like bone, and immediately from the bone 
arises a long cartilaginous tube which extends to the 
lungs and conveys the air backward and forward in the 
process of respiration. This tube is denominated the 
trachea or wind pipe, and the upper part of it, or that 
immediately connected with the hyoid bone, the larynx, 
and it is this upper part or larynx that constitutes the seat 
of the voice. The tube of the larynx, short as it is, is 
formed of five distinct cartilages, the largest and ap- 
parently, though not really lowermost, produces that 
acute projection in the anterior part of the neck, espe- 
cially in the neck of males. This is not a complete 
ring, but is open behind : that open space being filled 
up in order to make a complete ring with two other 
cartilages of a smaller size and power, which together 
form the glottis or aperture out of the mouth into the 
larynx. The fourth cartilage lies over the aperture and 
closes in the act of swallowing. These four cartilages 
are supported by a fifth, which constitutes their basis ; 
it is narrow before and broad behind, and has some re- 
semblance to a seal ring. The larynx is contraced and 
dilated in a variety of ways, by the antagonistic power 

— 148 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

of different muscles and the elasticity of its cartilaginous 
coats, and is covered internally with a very sensible vas- 
cular and mucous membrane which is a continuation of 
the membrane of the mouth. 

The organ of the voice, then, is the larynx, its mus- 
cles and other appendages ; and the voice itself is the 
sound of the air propelled through and striking against 
the sides of the glottis. The shrillness or roughness of 
the voice depends on the internal diameter of the glottis, 
its elasticity, mobility, and lubricity, and the force with 
which the air is protruded. Speech is the modification 
of voice into distinct articulation, in the cavity of the 
glottis itself, or in that of the mouth or the nostrils. 

The lungs are like a deep well into which fresh air 
will not go unless in some way a current is made. We 
make this current by breathing. The diaphragm is at- 
tached to the lower edge of the walls of the chest and 
stretches across, separating chest from abdomen, form- 
ing the floor of one and the roof of the other. When 
we breathe the diaphragm contracts, being partly mus- 
cle, and the top of the chest is flattened. The abdomen 
is not made larger, but expands in front just enough to 
make up for what it loses by the flattening of the roof. 
The muscles of the tongue, cheeks, and throat shape the 
sound produced by the vocal organs into words. We 
have taken a brief survey of the physical apparatus and 
of the means devised by the Almighty to render the 
transitory ideas of men communicative, and it yet re- 
mains for us to examine into the mental apparatus. 

Although we know much, and day by day are learn- 
ing more, of the physiology of the speech apparatus, 

— 149 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

still we are only on the threshold of the study of it as an 
instrument subserving mental function. We know little 
more positively than that it has such function ; we know 
nothing whatever of the physique and chemistry of 
thought without speculating. 

The mental faculties are numerous and complicated, 
so much so, it is difficult to arrange and analyze them ; 
in fact, I do not know of a treatise that gives us a clear 
and methodical classification of them. The general clas- 
sification divides them into three heads : Intellections, 
sensibilities, and volitions. The intellect is that by 
which all things material or immaterial, external or in- 
ternal, moral or unethical, are cognized by the soul. It 
is universal in its application ; it may become the hand- 
maid of any of the faculties; it may devise a plan to 
murder or to bless, to steal or to bestow, to rear up or 
destroy ; but as its proper use is to observe the different 
objects of creation, to mark their relations and direct the 
propensities and sentiments to their proper and legiti- 
mate enjoyments, it has a boundless sphere of activity, 
and when properly exercised and applied, is a source of 
high and inexhaustible delight. 

The sensibilities are the capabilities of the mind for 
experiencing the feelings, namely, the emotion by which 
the mind is excited or the desires by which it becomes 
apparent of objects. The will is the volitional power by 
which alone the soul consciously becomes the intentional 
author of external action, whether of mind or body. A 
simpler division, in my judgment, is to divide the mind 
into the powers or faculties of understanding election 
and emotion. To the first belong the principles of per- 

— 150 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

ception, thought, reason, judgment, memory, and imagi- 
nation; to the second those of choosing and refusing, 
and to the third belong those of hope, fear, grief, joy, 
hatred, anger, and revenge ; in fact, whatever is capable 
of moving the mind from a state of tranquillity. 

Now, what are the uses or proposed ends of this ex- 
tensive and complicated machinery of the mind? What 
are the respective parts which its various faculties are in- 
tended to fulfill? Their object is threefold and in every 
respect most important, and admirably calculated to 
prove the wisdom and benevolence of the Almighty 
Architect. They are the grand sources by which man 
becomes endowed with knowledge, moral freedom, and 
happiness, and hence fitted to win the elevated place of 
a rational being. From the powers of the understanding 
he derives the first, from those of election the second, 
and from emotion the third. Yet never let it be forgotten 
that he can in no respect, or at least to no considerable 
extent or good purpose, possess either the one or the 
other unless the mind as an individual .agent maintains 
its self-dominion and exercises a due degree of govern- 
ment over its own forces. This I think must be obvious 
to every one, and it is from this harmonious balance, this 
equitable guidance and control that perfect speech results 
and raises him to the perfection of human character. 

These are the powers and actions that lay out the 
pathway of man's life. They act upon the stammerer as 
on the ordinary person, but to what degree depends upon 
the condition of the faculties. If a man's reasoning facul- 
ties are poorly developed when a thought flashes through 
his mind, instead of that faculty taking possession of it 

— 151 - 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

at the proper time, it will allow it to pass on to the 
physical machinery before it is prepared for it. It is the 
dictates of moral and intellectual powers that constitute 
rules of conduct, and results in the collective dicta of the 
highest minds illustrated by the greatest knowledge. 

Now that we have examined the different parts and 
functions which comprise the gift of speech, we must 
turn our attention to the manner of treatment in 
order to use this great gift to its best advantage. The 
keynote for getting the mechanisms and functions into 
the best possible condition for effecting a cure is human 
development. It relates to both the physical and men- 
tal apparatus. Exercise is its greatest agent. By it the 
ideal man is produced, that is, one who is moving in all 
respects toward perfection and not in the other direc- 
tion. He is a man with a vigorously healthy body, a 
great mind, and a large heart, who has assimilated all 
he knows, whose original ideas outnumber those gained 
from books, and who is blessed with as many emotions 
as ideas. It means that a man can multiply himself 
until he is ten men ; he may increase his native powers 
tenfold and accomplish what he now accomplishes and 
do it ten times better. If he is weak in mind or body, 
he may become strong, and if dull may become bril- 
liant. If he is now following, instead of leading, he 
may reverse this condition, and if his influence is now 
scarcely felt, he may so enlarge his force as to transmit 
power around the globe. First, in regard to the de- 
velopment of the physical parts. Good health means 
more than freedom from disease. It means such an 
abundance of life and vitality as to give the sense of 

-152- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

physical vigor. It is the foundation of intellectual suc- 
cess and good character. All virtues and generous 
impulses of noble nature spring from robust health. 
Exercise ennobles and leads to health and joy necessary 
attributes for a successful cure. Mind, as well as health, 
is the product of both nerves and muscles. Only in a 
harmonious life, combining physical and mental labor 
for each day, is there possibility of health, strength, in- 
tellect, and long life. 

Breath is the material out of which voice is made, 
and it should be abundant ; it should be obtained in the 
proper manner and used with discretion. Exercise in 
deep, effusive, and expulsive breathing will be found of 
the greatest utility in enlarging the capacity of the lungs 
and giving the student more perfect control over his voice. 
Gymnastic and calisthenic exercises, when not carried 
to excess, are of great service in developing the voice, 
and, indeed, the habit of performing certain muscular 
actions such as tend to expand the chest and produce a 
general glow of the body without causing fatigue, is 
very beneficial. Air should never be taken into the 
lungs except through the nostrils, since nothing is more 
injurious, whether to a pure quality of voice or to 
health, than the habit of breathing through the mouth. 
The rule is of vital importance to those who have any 
tendency to disease of the lungs, larynx, or bronchial 
tubes. Stammerers, as a general rule, use only a lim- 
ited portion of the lungs, that which lies in the upper 
part of the chest, which, consequently, is overworked, 
superinducing a sensation of feebleness and exhaus- 
tion. 

~i53 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

In speaking, the effort should, by all means, be 
made below the diaphragm, which, as we have seen, is 
the muscle forming the floor of the chest, then by its 
depression, admitting the air into the lungs, and eleva- 
tion, expelling it therefrom through the glottis and 
larynx, it is converted into sound and thence into the 
mouth, where, by the action of the various organs, it is 
converted into speech. The observance of this precept, 
whilst conducive to the ease and comfort of the speaker, 
and giving him more control over the organs of speech, 
will also help to develop greater strength and fullness 
of voice. 

The stammerer, after perfecting his breathing, should 
turn his attention to one of the most essential requisites 
of speech, viz., articulation. There is an intimate rela- 
tion between distinct enunciation and true cultivation of 
the mind. Austin says: "In just articulation, the 
words are not hurried over or precipitated syllable over 
syllable. They are delivered from the lips as beautiful 
coins, newly issued from the mint, deeply and accurately 
impressed, perfectly finished, neatly struck by the 
proper organs, distinct, sharp, in due succession, and 
of due weight." 

The student should practice long and faithfully on 
the elementary sounds of our language. He should 
give special attention to developing symphony, or ease 
of utterance, which can be accomplished by prefixing 
or suffixing the consonants to the vowels and repeating 
them several times. 

Now in regard to vocalization. Let him develop 
modulation. It is the music of speech and the melody 

— 154 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

of oratory. It enables the stammerer to control him- 
self by a slow style, and at the same time give the 
sentiment its due force and relative position. So 
the whole discourse is breathed forth in harmony which 
is pleasant to the ear, with the speaker controlling each 
successive action. To enable the student to acquire 
this he should daily practice prolonging the vowel 
sound after taking a deep breath, in a firm and easy 
manner, until he has expelled the breath. Then con- 
tinue the same practice, but give the vowels a rising 
and falling inflection. The degree of force given to 
vocal sound is taken as the measure of the emotion 
which causes it, except where feeling becomes too 
strong for utterance, and is able to manifest itself only 
by choked or half-articulated speech. But a command 
over all degrees of force can be obtained by practice. 
Health nor strength of lungs without thorough disci- 
pline of the organs of speech can give this. Assiduous 
practice and untiring labor will produce the best results. 
Again, let the student exercise the muscles of the lips 
and make them strong and flexible, so that they will 
quickly respond to their proper function. As the shrill- 
ness and roughness of the voice depend on the glottis, 
it should be properly developed by exercise. There- 
fore let the student acquire deep respiration, firm and 
easy vocalization, wide and free articulation. 

We will now turn our attention to the mental side 
of human development. I hope that I may be able to 
impress upon each and every stammerer the importance 
of this. I have found that very many of the afflicted, 
on account of their infirmity, will leave school at an 

— 155 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

age when it might be said their education is only- 
beginning, and seek some secluded employment where 
they will not be required to talk, and then surrender to 
the enemy without making any kind of a fight. Even 
those that can well afford a college education will shirk 
from it and prefer to isolate themselves so as not to 
come in contact with those who make up this great 
universe. Reader, this is one of the greatest errors a 
stammerer can make. Instead of training those facul- 
ties, which are to be the foundation of his cure, he 
neglects them and is handicapped by working with dull 
tools instead of having them sharpened to their keenest 
edge. In these days of our public schools, free libraries, 
cheap, but good literature, there is no excuse for any 
one not developing the mental faculties. Let me exhort 
every stammerer not to be abashed and surrender, but 
while in his youth especially, and in fact, all his life, let 
him seek for knowledge and aim at the highest step on 
the ladder of fame. Prepare to fight the battle of life 
with all the vigor and enthusiasm you can command. 
Do not let the embarrassments of the school room, or 
of business life, drive you away. Let your highest na- 
ture assert itself and allow nothing to daunt you in the 
fight. Man appears on earth only partly made. His 
is an unfinished product. His creation is only begun. 
He should build himself to bear his burdens, for if they 
cannot be lightened he can become a giant to bear them. 
Although the possession of observation, imagination, 
emotion, reason, etc., is dependent upon heredity, yet 
whether one inherit them in a large or small measure, 
he may enormously add to their strength. How? By 

-156- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

education. According to man's thinking, and his power 
to think, is the whole measure of the man. His thoughts 
are himself. Discipline is the condition of his increase. 
Education is the great idea. It implies the science of 
man himself in all relations, and is the highest chapter 
in human philosophy. It is the work of enlargement, 
improvement, progress, advancement, refinement, and 
elevation, all of which are mighty arms for the stam- 
merer's combat. "As a man thinketh so is he." Hence 
the thinker is your real man, because he insists upon 
his inalienable rights. Everything must give way before 
him — all the secrets of nature, all the complexities of 
society — and on account of the development of his will 
is strongly fortified against stammering. A thinking and 
reflexive mind is almost a safeguard against stammer- 
ing, as it brings about a style of speech which is delib- 
erate and firm. This power of thinking is developed by 
study. In this exercise the soul grows mighty, ideas 
are forged out, and at length receive glorious embodi- 
ments. From the smallest incidents and the most 
casual chances the thinker weaves the grandest results. 
Never give up fighting, and remember the old saying, 
that is quoted so much but never loses its force, "Where 
there is a will there is a way." 

Let the stammerer keep the fire of his ambition 
aglow, use every energy, and bring forth his force of 
manhood to fight this great battle. He must learn to 
depend upon self and not say, I will allow so and so to 
cure me. Rather, he must say, I will procure the valu- 
able assistance of so and so and with that assistance use 
my energies and thereby perfect a cure. He will never 

-157- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

gain anything if he simply follows a set of rules in a list- 
less manner. Remember what Bacon says is true, 
" Knowledge is power." You are looking for power. 
Procure knowledge at all hazards. It opens to you a new 
vista of happiness, makes an intelligent citizen, and 
enables you to fulfill with a higher degree of excellence 
the duties laid upon you by the Almighty. It is a com- 
panion which no misfortune can depress, no clime de- 
stroy, no enemy alienate, no despotism enslave, at home 
a friend, abroad an introduction, in solitude a solace, in 
society an ornament, it guides virtue, and gives grace 
to genius. 

Following are some of the rules that have been laid 
down by men who, in the past, have done much for the 
stammerers' cause : 

i . Pupils must apply themselves seriously and with 
perseverance to practice a system until it becomes a set- 
tled habit with them. 

2. Before speaking they must be careful to take a 
full and quiet breath, and to renew their respiration ac- 
cording to the sense of the phrase, and never to speak 
when air is exhausted. 

3. Be careful in regard to the movement of the lips 
and tongue. 

4. Preserve a good syllabication. This is easily hid- 
den by the intonation and inflection of the voice. 

5. Speak with assurance, keep watch of the omission 
of your words, exercise full control over yourself, and 
the more you feel embarrassed the more you must 
speak slowly, coolly, and deliberately. In a word, be 
ever on your guard and watch yourself attentively, 

-158- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

6. We may sum up the system in three words, viz.: 
Respiration, syllabication, and tranquillity. These in- 
clude everything, and are equally indispensable. 

7. Take advantage of all opportunities to speak 
slowly, as, for instance, when you are with your family 
and friends. Pupils will profit much more by slow ex- 
ercises than rapid ones. 

8. Let the pupil have courage and patience; he 
must never be disheartened with the work, but must 
have confidence in himself and not be intimidated by 
others. He will then obtain an enduring success. 



— »59— 



PECULIARITIES IN STAMMERING AND HOW 
TO OVERCOME THEM 



It HAS been apparent to me for several years past 
that of numerous different forms of stammering there 
are two types strikingly different, which can be subdi- 
vided into as many different classifications as there are 
types of man. No two cases of stammering are exactly 
alike, each having its own phenomenon, and yet a true 
statement, and apparently a contradictory one is this, 
that all cases are exactly alike — the difference in type 
amounting only to a difference in physical manifesta- 
tions or in severity, a mental idiosyncrasy existing in 
every case as the parent cause of the difficulty. Every 
person or nearly every person who stammers imagines 
that their own case is peculiarly different from others. 
They tell you of little peculiarities which they imagine 
are entirely unlike other cases of stammering, and yet 
nearly every other person so afflicted repeats to you the 
same story. One man tells me he suffers great embar- 
rassment in talking in the presence of strangers, but no 
difficulty whatever when talking with his immediate 
friends or relatives. Another states that he has the 

— 160 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

most difficulty in talking with his own immediate rela- 
tives, while conversation with strangers causes him no 
trouble whatever. Another states that in the morning 
his trouble manifests itself more than at any other time 
during the day. Another has greater trouble in the 
evening after his day's work has been finished. I could 
go on in this way and fill a whole volume with the 
peculiarities of a great number of cases, but will dis- 
cuss such later and devote my time here to the two 
first mentioned. It appears to me that persons suffer- 
ing from stammering to the greatest degree in the pres- 
ence of strangers or under embarrassing circumstances, 
are, morally speaking, "cowards." The reader must 
not take it that I am calling him a coward because he 
stammers — I use the term only so far as his talking is 
concerned and not in its literal sense as ordinarily used ; 
yet it is a well-known fact among authorities on stam- 
mering that stammerers, because of their infirmity, hesi- 
tate to go into any undertaking fearing failure. Their 
feeling of uncertainty concerning their talking generates 
a like feeling concerning their success in any undertak- 
ing dependent upon their talking, and as there are but 
few vocations where fluency of speech is not called into 
question it leaves that feeling of uncertainty always rest- 
ing in the mind of the stammerer. Having from his 
earliest infancy realized that others could say those 
things which he could not, and because of this do those 
things which he could not do, he naturally learns to re- 
gard himself as an unequal. He realizes that others 
have had bestowed upon them by God and by Nature 
those gifts which he does not possess, and from this 

ii — 161 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

unfortunate circumstance arises within the mind of 
nearly every stammerer a certain feeling or sense of in- 
equality which makes the man afraid to enter into any 
undertaking through fear of failure, and it is in this 
sense that I say he is a "moral coward." The time for 
instantaneous cures in stammering has long since passed 
and intelligent people have learned that it is necessary 
to change to a certain degree the likes and dislikes of 
the man to reorganize his disposition and regulate his 
actions, if we must have the best kind of a cure. For 
this reason let the reader, if he be a "moral coward," 
commence at once to work a change in his manner of 
viewing the world. Let him assume a different attitude 
toward everybody. Let him act on the aggressive, not 
on the defensive, which way has too long characterized 
his actions. He must abandon his feeling of inequality 
and substitute instead that feeling of equality which 
should be our inheritance and our birthright, "All men 
are born equal." 

To straighten to a perpendicular position a tree that 
has grown toward the west wind, the horticulturist will 
tell you to bend it toward the east in order that nature 
may straighten it up. To gain a feeling of equality if 
you now possess one of inequality, begin at once to 
court a feeling of superiority. You must imagine your- 
self not only the equal ©f your equals, but you must, 
through concentration of thought and education, believe 
yourself superior. You must do at once without hesita- 
tion anything that falls to your lot to perform. Assume 
no longer toward the world that passive attitude which 
has characterized your everyday life in the past — but 

— 162 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

with buckled shield and sword, step out upon the bivouac 
of life prepared for the conflict equal to any emergency 
and with the brand of determination and defiance stamped 
fairly upon your brow. This alone will not overcome 
your difficulty in talking, but will largely overcome those 
conditions which now make your life so full of misery, 
and with continued effort in one direction I have no 
doubt but it will largely lessen the severity of many cases 
of this type of stammering, with probable chances for 
complete recovery. 

When you have once resolved to accomplish your 
cure, go at it with a determined effort, and " never give 
up the ship." A broken vow or a resolution unkept 
leaves you in ill condition. Better that you do not make 
any resolution at all than that you break your vow. See 
to it, then, that when you have said to yourself and your 
friends that "you will be cured of stammering," that you 
keep this promise true, never relinquishing your deter- 
mination even for a moment. Many persons go into 
every undertaking in a half-hearted manner, from which 
it is little wonder that few are successful. A great many 
persons suffering from stammering go about trying to 
rid themselves of their difficulty in about the same 
manner. They do not know whether they will be suc- 
cessful in getting cured or not ; somehow or other they 
do not think they will ; and without self-effort on their 
part, it always ends in about that way. Such persons, 
under the direction of a good teacher in the institution, 
when made to work, often turn out to be the best kind of 
cures ; but it requires plenty of urging and lots of " mak- 
ing " on the part of the teacher. 

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THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

Persons who experience greater difficulty in talk- 
ing to their own immediate acquaintances and friends 
than in talking before strangers are more characteristic 
in their manifestations of genuine stammering than the 
class of the opposite type. Dr. Klencke says : 

" The stammerer usually speaks better when he is 
forced to pay attention to himself," and adds that "he 
betrays his defect when careless, but by the action of 
his will he can partly or wholly overcome his difficulty." 

To speak with the greatest possible fluency persons 
addicted to this form of stammering require an abun- 
dance of mental energy of the will which they manage to 
summon up when placed under trying circumstances 
and which serves to co-ordinate then the desire for ex- 
pression with the movements necessary for harmonious 
action of the speaking organs. This energy is often- 
times generated at great expense of fatigue which fol- 
lows immediately afterward, the feeling experienced 
after the mental strain has subsided being much the 
same as that which follows the use of stimulants. Thou- 
sands of my readers I am sure have experienced this 
feeling hundreds of times and know what a depressing 
sensation it creates. The effort is usually mental but is 
always accompanied by a corresponding physical effort 
which consists of quickly forcing a quantity of air from 
the lungs, a contraction of the diaphragm and abdom- 
inal muscles and a muscular effort of the entire waist 
region of the body as if to support the effort of the 
mind, which is simultaneously endeavoring to control 
the tongue. This is many times carried to excess and 
to such an extent that continued effort, even though 

— 164 — 






THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

fluent speech follows, results in a fatiguing sensation 
and pain in the diaphragmatic region and in the abdo- 
men. Many persons who stammer are subject to these 
pains, which though not acute are nevertheless un- 
pleasant and worrying. The writer has in mind cases 
of this form of stammering where the effort mentally 
and physically to effect utterance resulted in prostration 
and where the unfortunate sufferer was subject to con- 
vulsions as the outcome of repeated occurrences. 

The reason why the stammerer is able to control 
himself in the presence of strangers is explained by the 
fact that he can control himself either partially or wholly 
under trying circumstances by the exercise of his will 
power. If unable to do so it is characteristic of stutter- 
ing rather than stammering but there are many persons 
who suffer from both ailments at one and the same 
time. Under such circumstances or when the contact 
is with strangers the desire on the part of the sufferer 
(naturally one of concealment) is to appear well. His 
pride is at stake and he realizes that the opinion of his 
newly formed aquaintances may be alterably changed if 
he betrays his natural defect and thus he exercises all 
the will power he can possibly summon up, and by both 
mental strain and physical effort manages by hook or by 
crook by avoiding obstacles, substituting phrases, and 
using synonyms to avoid all difficulty for the time being. 
Indeed he may not under such circumstances even re- 
quire to use synonyms but may be able to talk fluently 
and without interruption. 

Strange as it may appear, this same person in con- 
versation with his own immediate friends may be 

-165- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

able to utter but few words without his impediment 
betraying him. This phenomenon calls for a change of 
condition which the stammerer must bring about by his 
own efforts, both mentally and physically, if he wishes to 
obtain relief. The fact that he stammers in the presence 
of his immediate relatives is explained by the circum- 
stance that they know he stammers. There is nothing 
to conceal from them. His pride is in no wise effected 
by their knowledge of his impediment because he ap- 
preciates in his mind the fact that his defect draws out 
their love and sympathy rather than ridicule. He is 
thus off his guard and from the fact that he does not 
exercise mental energy to control his fluency he suffers 
in consequence. Let him use the same caution and feel 
the same embarrassment and humiliation when convers- 
ing with his friends that he does before strangers, and 
he will experience little if any difficulty. He will at 
least experience no more difficulty than before newly 
formed acquaintances. 

Let him say to his mother or to his father, "I prom- 
ise you on my word of honor that I will try to never 
again let you hear me stammer." Let him then keep 
his promise. Let him feel it a disgrace to stammer, 
and a humiliation even in the presence of his most inti- 
mate acquaintances. He must summon to his aid such 
unflinching zeal and purpose of mind as will not allow 
him even in the presence of his own to falter for a mo- 
ment. Stammering begets stammering and he must 
therefore not stammer. 

The fatigue which I have described both of mind 
and body as the result of excessive mental and physical 

— 166 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

effort may be largely lessened by the principle of relaxa- 
tion. I do not mean relaxation in the generally accepted 
meaning of the term, but what I do mean is relaxation 
from excessive mental and physical effort, without re- 
laxing from determination to surmount all difficulties. 
One may think less copiously yet with concentration, 
and one may infuse determination into an undertaking 
and into their talking, which from the fact that the latter 
consists of even utterances may nevertheless be with as 
much resolution of purpose as though effected with great 
effort and with unsteady purpose. 

A correct breathing habit will largely aid in accom- 
plishing the desired result, inasmuch as the effort men- 
tally, as already explained, is accompanied by an abnor- 
mal action of the respiratory apparatus. The stammerer 
usually contracts his diaphragm when approaching a 
word difficult of utterance, at which time he generally 
exhales the breath with which he should fill the abdomi- 
nal portion of his body if he wishes to speak well. Deep 
inspiration and expansion of the abdomen should be 
practiced when under approaching fear of stammering, 
when the diaphragm would otherwise contract. 

In any case of stammering a general building up of 
the constitution through a good system of physical 
exercises, having as its aim the accomplishment of 
muscular action by the direction of the effort of the 
mind, will do much to aid in obtaining satisfactory results. 

One singular thing about some persons who stam- 
mer, and a peculiarity which I have never heard dis- 
cussed, is that one who stammers has less difficulty in 
talking to a person who is like afflicted but whose im- 

— 167 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

pediment is more manifested. The reason for this is 
probably due to the fact that there is a natural inborn 
tendency to the saying that ''misery likes company," 
but when the company is the more miserable the ten- 
dency of. the most miserable is to self-congratulation. 
In this there is no doubt engendered a feeling of confi- 
dence from which arises fluency. On the other hand, 
persons who stammer coming in contact with others 
similarly afflicted, but to a lesser degree, usually behave 
poorly. The converse in argument that applies to the 
first named peculiarity will probably apply here. The 
feeling of satisfaction of human nature in the evil of joy 
at others misfortunes is offset by the fact that their mis- 
fortune is the lesser. Why were others not afflicted as 
badly as they? Whether these are true solutions to the 
problem is for the reader to decide, but the fact remains 
that with but few exceptions where two stammerers meet 
in conversation it increases the contortions and mani- 
festations for one and lessens the difficulty of the other. 
The remedy is self-suggestive. Let each congratulate 
himself that he can talk at all and that there are others 
in a worse predicament than he and it may lessen the 
difficulty for both. Let each imagine that he is superior 
as it may be due to the feeling of inferiority and superi- 
ority that one has difficulty and the other none. Another 
peculiarity among certain classes of stammerers is the 
circumstances that when they come up with a word that 
causes them to stammer, and when, after repeated effort 
they are still unable to effect its beginning, they find 
when they endeavor to write the word for the purpose of 
better explanation, having written upon paper the first 

— 168 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

syllable commencing it, they are at once without further 
effort and without finishing the writing of the whole 
word, able to enunciate it perfectly. In asking a class 
numbering upwards of eighty pupils as to their experi- 
ence in this matter fully 25 per cent, held up their hands 
as having had similar experiences. This is a common 
peculiarity among stammerers, to which of course may 
be exceptions, and there may be many who have never 
tried the experiment. 

Speaking scientifically, there is no question but that 
a physical movement accomplishes a mental desire and 
this is without doubt the solution to the problem. The 
stammerer is not lacking in desire for utterance, but in 
co-ordinating his desire with the execution or act itself. 
The movement of the pencil upon paper of itself acts as 
a harmonizing influence and serves to keep back the 
current of thought which otherwise piles up in such rapid 
succession that the organs physically are unable to 
execute them. It requires also a generating influence to 
move into harmonizing action the organs co-operating 
with the functions of the brain and in this any physical 
movement is an aid. This is shown more forcibly in 
gesture than anywhere else where physical movements 
are used almost entirely as a means for accomplishing 
mental desires. Another peculiarity of the same cir- 
cumstance is the fact that after great effort once having 
said the word, the stammerer can repeat it without diffi- 
culty. If it caused him no difficulty to say it in the be- 
ginning when asked to repeat it, nine times out of ten 
he cannot do so. The scientific explanation for this 
phenomena may be in the circumstances that in the first 

-169- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

instance confidence in his ability to utter the word having 
been established at the cost of great effort he realizes 
that he can say the word, and can then repeat it as often 
as he wishes to. 

On the other hand, having unconsciously uttered a 
word without difficulty, his attention being called to it 
when asked to repeat it, he is unable to do so owing to 
the fact that he at once loses confidence in his ability 
to utterance. After great effort, having temporarily 
mastered it, he finds he can repeat it again and again 
without further difficulty. Were this temporarily estab- 
lished confidence to be of a lasting nature it would re- 
quire only a succession of efforts and fighting in order 
to permanently master every word in the English lan- 
guage. Unfortunately for the stammerer his confidence 
is of the thermometer style, it rises and falls, and like 
the barometer, it changes with the atmosphere and en- 
vironments in which it is placed. 

There is a peculiarity among persons who stam- 
mer that I have touched upon briefly, viz., having 
unconsciously uttered a word without difficulty, his 
attention being called to it, when asked to repeat 
it the stammerer is generally unable to do so. Ask 
him what time of day it is and he replies 10 o'clock. 
"What did you say?" you ask, and he is unable to effect 
an utterance or to say a word. I have no doubt but that 
fifty per cent, of my readers have experienced this same 
difficulty, but under different conditions. The explana- 
tion for this peculiarity is probably in the fact that the 
stammerer prearranges for himself mental pictures of 
words or sounds which, when he tries to effect their utter- 

— 170 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

ance, cause him great difficulty. These mental pictures 
are sometimes of a permanent character and sometimes 
are only temporary. Some persons who stammer carry 
around in their mind a whole vocabulary of sounds and 
letters upon which they know they will surely stammer, 
while other words known to them as synonyms cause 
them not the slightest difficulty. It is largely owing to 
the mental picture that the stammerer constantly sees 
before him of word difficulties that he becomes invent- 
ive, and it is sometimes surprising the alertness with 
which some such persons manage to conceal their im- 
pediment. For instance, in such a case as that of the 
man who was asked what time of day it was and then 
requested to repeat his answer, a stammerer ever on the 
alert to avoid word pictures would invent some means 
to avoid stammering on the repetition of his answer. 
He might deliberately take out his watch again and 
reply that it was "a few minutes to 10 o'clock," which 
would be easier for him than a direct answer, "Ten 
o'clock." He might turn the face of his watch to the 
questioner, in which case he could more readily repeat 
his answer when he understood that it was not necessary 
to do so. There is no telling what he might do, but 
rest assured, such persons are quick, and always ready 
to "beat the wolf around the bush." Mental pictures of 
difficulty often present themselves without warning, and 
are sometimes uncertain in that they appear and vanish. 
One moment the stammerer believes in his ability to 
utter a word, and were he to try he could do so ; the 
next instant the hallucination returns, and try as he may 
he is unable to utter the word. The greater the effort 

— 171 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

the less he can say it. Sometimes the hallucination is 
lasting, with the result that he is unable to say the word 
under any circumstances without great effort, when 
temporarily he may be able to repeat it, only to find 
that the picture of difficulty returns when his mind has 
settled back in a state of repose. Word pictures are 
likely to change in the mind of the stammerer. A man 
who has trouble on words commencing with closed con- 
sonants may lose thought and habit entirely of difficulty 
on such sounds, only to find, however, that his trouble 
has been transferred to continuous sounds. Labials may 
present themselves as obstacles difficult of utterance, 
and may entirely disappear, only to be substituted by 
gutturals, which may in turn give way to vowels, and so 
down through the whole vocabulary of sounds and syl- 
lables. There is nearly always, however, a balance of 
power maintained, or in other words, when the difficulty 
disappears on one sound it is almost always sure to 
manifest itself on another. Cases of stammering are so 
unlike that it is difficult without knowing the particular 
temperament and disposition of the sufferer to lay down 
any set rule as a remedy that will apply alike in all 
cases, because what might prove valuable advice in one 
case might serve only to aggravate another. The diffi- 
culty, however, inasmuch as it is both mental and 
physical, can be combated only by a physical and men- 
tal means. The correct position of the organs of articu- 
lation must be studied, the application of certain 
principles and the results. If the difficulty is manifested 
in the gluing together of the tongue and upper gum, 
as is the case in stammering upon the letter " t," the 

— 172 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

results must be at once apparent to the observer, viz., 
that the greater the effort to effect utterance under such 
conditions, the less able we are to accomplish our aim. 
From this must come the self-suggested physical remedy 
of no effort. The organs must be relaxed and the be- 
ginning of the word effected with a whispered utterance. 
Mentally the course or channel of our thought must be 
diverted. The stammerer must in some manner or by 
some means dispel from his mind the hallucination of 
fear that grasps hold of him, and in this the concentra- 
tion of his mind upon the manner of his utterance will 
serve largely as an instrument of accomplishment. He 
must not allow his mind to dwell upon "what" he is 
going to say, but rather upon "how" he is going to say 
it. This " how" he is going to say it is of course the 
problem that all stammerers are trying to solve. I have 
thus pointed out a means toward the easier enunciation 
of words commencing with the letter " t," and have sug- 
gested the remedy of no effort as contrasted with exces- 
sive effort. This can be accomplished through the 
whispered utterance and the diversion of the trend of 
thought above suggested, viz., concentrating the mind 
upon the manner of utterance rather than upon the 
word you desire to utter. The whispered utterance is 
of itself the significant to the mind of the stammerer of 
relaxation, as in the whisper we have the embodiment 
of nothing excessive. It requires but little effort and 
but little energy to perform a whispered utterance. A 
dying man can whisper when he can no longer vocalize, 
showing that but little stimulus is necessary to the per- 
formance of the act. I do not wish any reader to take 

— 173 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

from my writing that I advocate whispering as a substi- 
tute for vocalization, but what I do wish to imply is that 
vocalization should (in cases where the difficulty is 
manifested in excessive effort) be preceded by the 
whispered utterance. Many will wonder what I mean 
when I speak of a whispered utterance. A whispered 
utterance, according to my usage of the term, implies a 
word the beginning of which is a prolonged whisper, 
followed of course by vocalization. Every word spoken 
has a certain degree of the whispered utterance attached 
to it, which is either prefixed or affixed. The stammerer 
should endeavor to prolong the whispered or breath 
portion of his words and avoid, by correct principles of 
physically applying his organs of articulation, the hard 
and difficult letters likely to cause him difficulty. The 
remedy for words commencing with the letter "t"is 
suggestive of similar remedial means for other letters, 
but through other channels. We must in every case 
search out the manifestations and apply the remedy 
accordingly. Word pictures and mental hallucinations 
of difficulty in enunciation can be overcome largely after 
the manner above suggested, but it is better to gain 
first a thorough knowledge of other exercises necessary 
to the cure, and also an idea of the analysis of sounds. 
It is not the knowledge of any one principle to over- 
come stammering that effects the cure, nor is it the 
knowledge of all principles, but rather the knowledge 
of all principles and their practical application. 



— 174 



SUGGESTIONS FOR STAMMERERS 

Contemplating Treatment and for Parents or 
Guardians of Stammering Children 

THE MISERY OF STAMMERING 



MANKIND, while superior to all other living creation, 
and enjoying the richest blessings of a merciful God, is 
at the same time heir to the most grievous and terrible 
afflictions that are visited unto the animal kingdom. 
Although the blessings exceed the afflictions by a thou- 
sand fold, yet how often we forget the many blessings 
in brooding over our afflictions. The blind, the deaf, 
the mute, the maimed, while compelled to fight life's 
battles under grave difficulties, have reason to be thank- 
ful beyond expression, when they note the condition of 
the imbecile. So highly do we prize the power to see, 
hear, and be heard, that rather than be deprived of it, 
we would prefer death itself. Imagine, then, the con- 
dition of the imbecile, who, though possessing all the 
necessities of a perfect physical development, lacks the 
intellect, the mind, the reasoning faculties, the absence 
of which sinks man beneath the lowest brute. If a 

— 175- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

man is blind he soon realizes how useless is an attempt 
to see. To the deaf sound is unknown, hence he does 
not understand the severity of his affliction, while the 
mute is always resigned to silence, and, therefore, in re- 
ality knows not the value of speech. Thus, in this con- 
nection, an affliction that is absolute is more merciful 
than one that is but partial. If there were intervals 
when the blind could see, the deaf hear, and the mute 
talk, their quiet and peace of mind would be destroyed 
forever. Such is the condition of the man who possesses 
the power of speech, yet cannot talk. His intellect is 
keen, his reasoning clear, his vocal organs perfect, yet 
he is wholly or partially unable to vocalize his thoughts 
and produce intelligible speech. He is bound, as it 
were, hand and foot, by the most cruel, cutting, and 
galling bonds that ever restricted or impaired the hopes 
and aspirations of an ambitious man. He is a victim 
of that despotic affliction which has ruled and ruined 
many lives, and is known to the world as stammering. 
His condition invites the sympathy, aye, the pity, of 
his fellow-beings who are so fortunate as to possess un- 
fettered speech. That sympathy is usually extended 
in the kindest manner, although the poor stammerer is 
sometimes compelled to surfer from the ridicule and 
derision of those who in intellect and nobleness of char- 
acter are not, and probably never will be, his equal. 
But real sympathy, such as is inspired by a direct per- 
sonal knowledge of the affliction, the vast majority of 
people are utterly unprepared to give. 

We read to-day of a famine in India, or of atrocious 
deeds perpetrated in Armenia, and we sympathize with 

— 176 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

the unfortunate beings who are thus compelled to suffer, 
but had there been a period in our lives when we 
were compelled to stand helplessly by and see our 
loved ones perish one by one, from the want of food, 
or fall by the knife of the barbarous Turk, our 
sympathy would increase tenfold and be of a deeper, 
more tender nature. So it is with the stammerer. He 
receives true heartfelt sympathy only from those who 
have likewise suffered, and who have experienced within 
their being, their mind, their very soul, that patient 
longing, that mental craving, that burning desire to 
speak, to converse, to be understood, to possess the 
power and ability to give intelligent sound and expres- 
sion to those thoughts which for years have remained 
helplessly imprisoned within their brain, of but little 
use to themselves, and entirely lost to their fellow- 
men. 

Those who possess perfect freedom of speech, who 
at all times and under all circumstances can give utter- 
ance to their thoughts are incompetent to realize the 
suffering of the unfortunate stammerer. They know 
not the agony of mind, the mental torture, the terrible 
misery that he is compelled to constantly undergo. 
His inability to give verbal expression to his thoughts 
naturally leads to the opinion among his associates that 
the affliction has not only fettered his speech but his 
intellect also. Thus, to the embarrassment of a speech 
defect is added the unenviable reputation of a weakened 
intellect. In this respect, however, a greater injustice 
could not be done the stammerer. To be sure, his 
education is neglected, for in school he is the laughing- 

-177- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

stock of the class, even his attendance, in many cases, 
being made compulsory by his parents. A college 
course, with his defective speech, has no charms for 
him. And so, year after year, a naturally keen and 
brilliant intellect remains inactive and undeveloped. 

To the average person, the presence of a severe 
stammerer is especially disagreeable. Therefore he 
suffers from a social ostracism and is benefited by none 
of those refining influences which always attend an 
association with the cultured and educated. Conse- 
quently he is oftentimes rough and uncouth in manner, 
while inwardly possessing the true instincts of a noble 
man. 

In the business world, the stammerer rarely enjoys 
a successful career. The same obstacle that prevents 
his entry into society, closes to him the door of pros- 
perity. A business man must be congenial ; the stam- 
merer can not be. 

From the literary field he is also barred by that 
same, seemingly insurmountable barrier. He is ham- 
pered in whatever he undertakes, be it of a social, busi- 
ness, or literary nature. In the face of these difficulties 
and failures which attend his every effort toward 
advancement, is it any wonder that the stammerer loses 
hope, energy, and ambition? Life to him has no pleas- 
ures; it is merely existence. His past is lost, his 
present a failure, and his future a hopeless blank. 

Such was the condition of the stammerer until 
within the last few years. But now the light and prog- 
ress of the nineteenth century has penetrated the dark 
clouds which overshadowed his life, and made it possi- 

-178- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

ble for him to surmount the barriers, gain the level, and 
run the great race of life, on an equal footing with all 
mankind. 

STAMMERING A HABIT 

With many persons stammering is purely a habit, 
oftentimes the result of lack of proper training in 
youth. 

The first attempts at speech made by children often- 
times reveal slight indications of stuttering; but not 
generally before the individual becomes completely 
aware of his defect with all its horror, do the parents 
try to obtain for their child relief. The little prattler, 
instead of being continually corrected for its imperfect 
articulation, is oftentimes encouraged in its baby-talk by 
its parents and friends until it becomes second nature 
for it to mispronounce and misarticulate words and syl- 
lables. The writer has known children of from ten to 
fifteen years of age who had never entirely forgotten 
their baby-talk, and slight traces of it was oftentimes 
noticeable in their conversation. 

Many of these encouraged baby-talkers have turned 
out to be stammerers. This way of dealing with the 
trouble is equally as wrong as it would be to postpone 
to a later period the necessary orthopedic treatment of 
a child tending to bodily deformity. As the child 
grows, the evil, instead of decreasing, increases, even- 
tually leaving its victim a stutterer or stammerer of 
the most severe type. Thus what was at first, by the 
parents of the child, encouraged, becomes to it, later on, 

— 179 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

second nature, and oftentimes a bad and disgusting 
habit. 

Many parents answer their children in this same 
baby-talk. Thus the child is taught and confirmed that 
its own mistakes are correct, and gradually grows into 
that evil manner of talking, whence stammering and 
stuttering arise. 

It is surprising with what fidelity a child will imitate 
whatever it sees or hears. Children hardly able to talk 
oftentimes surprise their parents with their knowledge 
and actions. Therefore it becomes all parents to 
exert the utmost carefulness in the training of their 
children, and to watch for and correct any tendency to 
a faulty or imperfect articulation. 

Never strike or scold a child for defective utterance. 
A spirit of firmness, with nothing to startle or excite, 
but rather with a tendency to kindness, will be found to 
be of much value. Canon Kingsley says: "Fear of 
bodily punishment, or even capriciousness in his teacher's 
temper and rules, will surely confirm the bad habit. If 
he is by any means kept in a state of terror, shame, or 
even anxiety, then this stammerer will grow worse and 
worse as he grows older." 

Ask the child to slowly and carefully repeat what 
has given it difficulty to utter ; if it be a request do not 
grant it until the child has done its best to ask for it 
correctly, always speaking to it in a manner to indicate 
that you are positive. A splendid practice, and one 
which gives noticeable results almost immediately, is to 
teach to the child some simple rhyme or story, have 
it repeat after you correctly, exactly what you say, 

— 180 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

being always very careful not to talk in an affected or 
exaggerated manner. , 

If the child is quite young, teach it first to pronounce 
correctly each letter of the alphabet. Many children 
attempt to speak upon but scarcely any breath, first 
expelling nearly all the air from their lungs ; they then 
begin to give utterance to partially formed words and 
syllables. Such should be taught to carefully inhale 
before attempting to speak, and never permitted to be- 
gin a sentence in a quick or hurried manner. Let the 
proper time be given to the development of the lungs 
of children, and much of the tendency that exists at the 
present day to pulmonary troubles would vanish, and 
there would be more bright, merry voices, and, conse- 
quently, happier hearts in our schools and homes. 
Teach the child the proper mode of breathing, the 
correct manner of articulating, and much of the sorrow 
and distress, the result of stammering, would give way 
to cheerfulness, and happier lives would be the result. 
The old proverb, "A stitch in time saves nine," is espe- 
cially applicable here. 

The following is an extract clipped from an article 
written by Dr. Morrell McKenzie, for the Popular Sci- 
ence Monthly: " It is hardly an exaggeration to say 
that the training of the voice should begin almost with 
the cradle. I do not, of course, mean to say that a 
baby should be taught to squall according to rule, or 
that the prattle of children should be made a laborious 
task, but I wish to insist on the importance of surround- 
ing the child, as soon as it begins to lisp, with persons 
who speak well." 



THE OklGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

THE MIMIC 

"All languages," old Roger Ascham says, "both 
learned and mother tongues, are begotten and gotten 
solely by imitation, for as ye used to hear, so ye learn 
to speak; if ye hear no other, ye speak not yourself; 
and whom ye only hear, of them ye only learn." 

Quintilian says : " Before all, let the nurses speak 
properly ; the boy will hear them first, and will try to 
shape his words by imitating them." This applies chiefly 
to the pronunciation and correct use of words; but 
much might also be done for the right management 
of the voice, if every child could grow up among peo- 
ple who speak well. 

Have you ever mocked or imitated the habits and 
contortions of a stammerer? 

Beware, lest you also are made to carry the yoke ! 

It seems a severe but a just punishment, that those 
who hold up their fellow-men to ridicule because of their 
infirmities are oftentimes similarly afflicted. A young 
lady who applied to me for relief not long since broke 
down and shed tears when she told me she had been 
punished because she mocked a person who was afflicted 
in the same manner. Many applications for admission 
to my Institution have been accompanied by letters that 
told the same sad and pitiful story: "I acquired the 
habit by mocking." 

Children especially, and, I am sorry to say, many 
grown persons, having witnessed some peculiar type of 
stammering or stuttering, which, to them, appears laugh- 
able, set about to imitate the poor unfortunate who has 

— 182 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

unluckily crossed their path, and to their sorrow many- 
such mimics find that when they wish to discontinue the 
habit, the monster, with all its horrors, has securely 
fastened its talons into their flesh, not to be easily 
shaken off. 

Take my advice, then, if you have been habitually 
mocking the stammerer, — stop it, and stop it at once. 
The poor unfortunate victim, the target of your jest, 
has already enough to suffer without bearing the taunts 
and ridicule of inhuman scoffers. 



STAMMERING A DISEASE 

That stammering, with many persons, is a disease, 
is no longer a doubt in the minds of those who have 
made a careful study of the subject. Dr. Raphael 
Cohen cites the case of one family where stammering 
was transmitted through four generations, the mal- 
ady usually developing between the second and fifth 
year, the affliction commencing with a repetition of 
syllables and words — at first seldom, then often, until 
it broke out in all its uncontrollable force. This type 
of stammering has previously been considered by 
others incurable. Eminent physicians and specialists 
both in this country and abroad, have been utterly un- 
able to afford any relief to the unfortunate stammerer 
who was unlucky enough to inherit his difficulty. 

Notwithstanding the failure hitherto to afford relief 
to such cases, a careful glance over the many letters we 
have received will at once convince the reader that the 
closing of the nineteenth century has revealed to the 

-183- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

world, among its many other inventions and discoveries, 
a means for the curing of stammering and stuttering 
equally adapted to and effective in each and every case, 
from the mildest type to the most severe, the contor- 
tions of which are oftentimes painful to witness, and 
disgusting beyond description. 

STAMMERING THE RESULT OF DISEASE 

Stammering with many persons is the result of 
eruptive disease, such as scarlatina, smallpox, and 
other kindred disorders ; it may be the result of ex- 
ternal injuries, sudden fright, or any violent nerve or 
brain trouble may cause it; in nearly every such case, 
however, the afflicted individual previously possessed 
a weak enforcing power of the will over the organs of 
utterance. Very rarely is stammering caused by any 
organic defect. In a series of six hundred cases, care- 
fully investigated by Columbat, there was not one case 
of stammering caused by malformation of the organs. 

THE INFLUENCE OF CHILD STAMMERING 

There is no doubt but that stammering obtains a 
bad influence in children. It is detrimental both to 
the stammerer himself and also to his young asso- 
ciates with whom he comes in contact. Innumerable 
illustrations could be made in support of this state- 
ment. Children are more likely to mimic than grown 
persons, in fact, they learn to talk almost wholly by 
imitation and by observation, and nothing seems to 

— 184 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

impress itself more forcibly upon their imagination than 
the antics of the stammerer. In the large majority of 
cases we have found that persons addicted to stammering 
are of an extremely sensitive and nervous disposition. 
This nervousness is usually accompanied with a weak- 
ened constitution, which usually becomes more fragile 
as the stammerer advances in years If stammering 
children could be trained for the correction of their de- 
fect they would as they advanced in years become 
as strong and as robust as other persons, but with their 
affliction constantly in their minds and the effect that 
stammering has upon the nervous system if neglected, 
these children, which otherwise would be strong, 
healthy men and women, become physically unfit for 
anything more than the ordinary walks of life. Re- 
ferring again to the effect that association with stam- 
merers may have upon persons who do not suffer from 
stammering, we know of hundreds of cases of stammer- 
ing due entirely to child association and mimicry. 

Keep your child away from stammering children 
and especially keep him away from a stammering 
parent or guardian. There is no doubt that stammer- 
ing has a deleterious effect upon not only the victim 
himself, but also upon other children with whom he 
comes in contact. The best age at which to treat a 
child for stammering is as young as it can intelligently 
understand the necessary exercises and at the same 
time realize the necessity for a cure. 



-185 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 



WHEN TO COMMENCE TREATMENT 

While the great number of cases we have treated 
has proved to us and to others that at no stage have we 
been unable to successfully combat the difficulty, yet 
persistency in the habit renders it more difficult to bring 
the organs back to their normal condition. The longer 
we continue any habit, the more difficult it becomes to 
stop it, and this especially is applicable to the subject 
in question. For this reason no person should deny 
himself or herself of the privilege available to recover 
their speech at as early a date as possible. 



CLASS EXERCISE 

From four to six hours are set aside daily for class 
exercise, when pupils are expected, unless satisfactory 
excuse is given, to attend diligently to the work which it 
is their duty to perform. The exercises are both pleas- 
ant and profitable, and are varied to suit the different 
forms of speech impediment with which we have to 
deal. 

Our treatment is adapted to the indications and 
directed against the manifestation according to the 
requirements of each particular case. 

We never administer drugs nor medicine of any kind 
to our pupils nor apply electricity in any form in con- 
nection with our treatment. 

Much of our success is due to the natural means we 
employ in overcoming this unnatural difficulty. 

— 186 — 



\ 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

The permanency of our cures we attribute to the 
physical and mental development of the pupil, notice- 
able from the beginning of treatment. 

These exercises are not only valuable as an auxiliary 
means, but also open the way and lay the foundation 
for a lifelong cure. The mental influences become 
regulated, the will strengthened, and the whole organism 
apparently transformed into the awakening of a new 
individuality. 

THE RESULT OF STAMMERING 

Separated by his affliction and infirmity from society 
and companionship, the poor, unfortunate stammerer is 
driven to the solitude of his own unhappy contempla- 
tion. 

With many stammerers life is an attempt with but 
little success. In their effort to succeed they are con- 
tinually kept in a state of fear and anxiety. How many 
pillows have been saturated with tears, every drop an 
appeal for free speech? How many hearts have longed 
for the day to come when humanity would be released 
from this woeful curse? 

This constant strain upon the mind and nerves rap- 
idly consumes vitality. The boy, vigorous as a child, 
oftentimes finds himself a physical and nervous wreck 
about the time he should be developing into a magnifi- 
cent specimen of manhood. The fact that he stammers 
is never out of his mind ; thus he realizes that others 
have bestowed upon them by nature gifts that he has 
not, and gradually it becomes second nature for him to 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

regard himself as an unequal. The ambition which 
should arouse us all to action in our youth in him is 
dormant. Sooner or later this vital force that is being 
gradually undermined perishes, and the victim awakens 
to find himself prostrated with grief over his sad condi- 
tion. The mental strain in some cases, the result of 
stammering, is something awful. Many severe cases 
develop to such a degree as to cause convulsions. 
Persons so afflicted oftentimes lose their minds entirely, 
a fact which statistics prove not infrequently happens. 

THE UNFORTUNATE 

There stands a person whose face is physically 
drawn out of shape. His mental faculties are warped. 
He is not a mute, but still he cannot speak. His 
thoughts are crippled and confused. To all appear- 
ances he is a man, but if we knew him well we would 
find that in many things he is but a child. The persons 
who understand his peculiarities are few and his sym- 
pathizers are equally rare. His strange silence and 
timid actions lower him in the estimation of his fellow- 
men. The sweet privilege of social enjoyment is 
unknown to him. Every undertaking he enters into 
is abandoned through gloomy forebodings of failure. 
His thoughts, denied the liberty of oral expression, be- 
come as stagnant and unreliable as his manner of acting. 
His countenance bears a piteous but repulsive appear- 
ance and is indicative of a long and fierce battle of 
successive failures. His consolation is the ridicule and 
cruel impatience of innumerable mimics, who ape him 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

at every opportunity. At last, pressing deeper into his 
flesh the poisoned arrows of his terrible infirmity, his 
burden of sorrow crushes him to the earth. 



THE HOPEFUL SIDE OF STAMMERING 

While the stammerer has much to be sorrowful over, 
nevertheless, if he will only look around him and ob- 
serve the many other ills to which human flesh is heir, 
he will find much consolation in the fact that there are 
others who are suffering from greater afflictions than he 
is. 

Is not blindness worse than stammering? To be 
deprived of the beautiful in nature ; to never know the 
expression of the human countenance ; to be an object 
of dependency and a burden to others, led from place 
to place as one leads a blind horse with leathern halter ; 
these are the least of the blind man's woes. 

What of the hopeless consumptive ? Will you will- 
ingly exchange your lot for his ? You have every con- 
fidence and hope of recovery; he, poor unfortunate, 
has none. 

Where is the stammerer who will exchange his life 
for the life of the mute? Yes, you say, here I am, I will 
exchange my life for the life of a mute. Then if this is 
true, go in silence for the balance of your life. You tell 
me that the mute is resigned to his infirmity and that in 
this resignation there is satisfaction and relief; to you 
this may be true, but to me it would mean an everlasting 
and never-dying source of remorse and sorrow to know 
that I was forever speechless to the world. True, the 

189— 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

stammerer often in a sense suffers greater agony than 
the mute, but he can always harbor a hope for recovery ; 
and what is this life to any of us whether we stammer or 
not when we have abandoned hope. Hope is the sub- 
stance on which the soul feeds. Hope for the present. 
Hope for the future, and hope for the very end. Hope 
is a never-ending ray of sunshine in the life of every man 
and woman, and to every stammerer Hope is doubly as 
dear as to others. The mute can know but little of this 
joyous thing called hope, but the stammerer is ever 
hopeful. 

What about the cripple? Would you rather stam- 
mer than be crippled? Your answer is: I would rather 
be a cripple than stammer. Yes, but I say, how would 
you like to stammer and be crippled as well? Here you 
pause and reply that either one is bad enough. But 
remember, there are many who suffer both, and how 
thankful you should be that you have but one to con- 
tend with. 

There has been a time in the history of this country 
when stammering could be considered one of the great- 
est evils and infirmities to which mankind is heir, but at 
the present time, when modern ideas are supplanting 
old-time theories, and the stammerer can be entirely 
relieved of his burden, the old-time poison called stam- 
mering has lost much of its former virus and sting. 

THE CURE 

A careful study of the different methods for the cure 
of stammering and stuttering, and other speech impedi- 

— 190 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

ments, as practiced by the most successful of those who 
have within recent years devoted their time and study 
to the subject, together with the personal experience of 
having been a most severe stammerer for more than 
twenty years, proves to me beyond a doubt that only 
such systems produce cures and permanent results as 
are founded on an educational basis, where the pupil is 
disciplined and put through a systematic training, be- 
ginning at the foundation and rebuilding the tissues that 
have naturally become weakened, through lack of proper 
use, at the same time strengthening and developing the 
vocal organs. 

Probably no other means of cure in the world has 
met with such remarkable success in ridding humanity 
of this awful curse as has THE LEWIS PHONO- 
METRIC METHOD. Our graduates, representing 
now nearly every State in the Union, and Province of 
Canada, many of whom had been lifelong sufferers, 
bear us out in this assertion with their splendid letters 
of indorsement. 

HOME TREATMENT 

Many persons have written to me to inquire if I 
eould give them printed or written instructions that 
would serve the same purpose as their presence at my 
school, to which questions I have invariably answered, 
No. While I might possibly give them instructions in 
a written or printed form, and in a manner from which 
they might possibly obtain some relief, yet it would 
prove very unsatisfactory in the end to both pupil and 

— 191 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

instructor. Almost daily we receive communications 
from persons asking for mail treatment, with offers of 
remuneration. I invariably refuse offers of this kind, 
always advising the correspondent that it is absolutely 
necessary to attend my Institution and remain directly 
under my personal observation, that I may from day to 
day (for a short period) assist and direct them to a 
proper use and development of the organs of speech, 
which have been so long abused. 

TIME FOR EVERYTHING 

It is equally as hard to effect a cure in a case of 
stammering unless attention is paid to the little details 
of treatment as it is to successfully conduct a large 
mercantile business without system. 

The old proverb, " Take care of the pennies and the 
dollars will take care of themselves," has been verified 
a countless number of times, and contains a principle 
worth while studying. He who pays attention to the 
minutest details of his business will surely succeed in 
the end. He who neglects and treats as unworthy of 
notice the smallest fraction of his duties will ulti- 
mately neglect his whole business and end in failure. 
This also applies to a cure for stammering. Pay atten- 
tion to every little principle involved in effecting the 
cure and you cannot but succeed if the method is 
practical. 

If the method you are following be not altogether 
efficient, you cannot afford to neglect the minutest in- 
struction. On the contrary, you should apply yourself 

— 192 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

the more studiously. A poor method, poorly applied, 
will give absolutely no results ; a good method, poorly 
applied, will give some results ; a poor method, well 
applied, may afford relief; while a good method of 
treatment, well applied, will give you an absolute and 
permanent cure. 

Granting the above to be undeniable, we have many 
things to take into consideration before we can even be- 
gin to hope for relief. The main difficulty to contend 
with in the majority of cases where a cure is looked for 
is the fact that the stammerer becomes impatient for re- 
sults and wants a cure all at once. 

Let us for a minute draw a comparison between the 
man who from education, study, and practice would get 
cured of stammering, and he who would become profi- 
cient in any other study as seriously involving his future 
life as his freedom of speech. The would-be artist does 
not acquire his knowledge of colors, his delicate touch, 
an eye for form and beauty, nor his reputation, all in a 
day. The would-be physician or surgeon expects many 
weary hours of painstaking labor if he shall acquire for 
himself reputation and skill. The skilled artisan and 
the mechanic can only be called such after years of 
study and labor. He who would establish himself as a 
lawyer does not expect to reach the goal for which he 
is striving without much patience and study, and so 
could be quoted innumerable other cases, down through 
all the different walks of life. The would-be artist be- 
gins at the mixing of colors, he studies form, texture of 
canvas, mounting of pictures, quality of brushes, prac- 
tices delicacy of touch, and blending of shades. If he 

i 3 — 193 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

be a landscape artist he probably spends whole sum- 
mers and autumns in rural districts studying the beau- 
ties of nature with all her grandeur of color and origi- 
nality. He then goes abroad and studies the masters, 
and finally, after many years of earnest plodding, he is 
rated an artist in the true sense of the word, and then 
spends the balance of his life trying to make for himself 
a reputation. 

Similar illustrations could be made of the would-be 
physician, the would-be artisan, the would-be lawyer, 
the would-be musician, and many other would-bes ; but 
the poor, unfortunate " would-be-cured-stammerer " 
wants to become proficient all at once, and, alas, because 
he does not speedily find that for which he is in search, 
he sinks into the unhappy solitude of his own unhappy 
thoughts and thinks he is the most woe-begone and all- 
around-afflicted mortal in the world. Let him for an in- 
stant compare his lot with that of others so afflicted — 
many of whom are in a worse condition than he is — 
hitherto unknown to him. You cannot see the blade of 
grass grow as it pops its tiny leaf through the moist 
earth. You cannot see a tree casting forth its leaf. Yet 
these and other such events follow year in and year out, 
and are observed gradually as they transpire. The days 
for miracles have long since passed. Methods for the 
cure of stammering having for their foundation secrecy 
and humbuggery, quackery, and misrepresentation, must 
give way to practical educational methods of treatment, 
and the sooner the stammerer is brought to realize these 
facts the better for him and for all other persons con- 
cerned. 

— 194 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 



TIME REQUIRED TO EFFECT A CURE 

The length of time required to effect a cure depends 
largely upon the severity of the case and the applica- 
tion of the pupil to duty. The average case has 
Required from three to six or eight weeks' treatment. 
We do not guarantee the length of time for treatment 
required to effect a cure in any particular case, as much 
depends upon the pupil's aptitude for learning and ap- 
plication. An investigation of our testimonials will 
prove to the reader however that many of our pupils 
"who had been lifelong sufferers were never heard to 
stammer after their first week's instruction although 
they remained with us until the completion of their 



RESULTS OF TREATMENT 

The results of treatment are noticeable on the pupil 
almost immediately. The depressed, careworn look 
possessed by many stammerers, the direct result of 
years of constant worry and battle, gives way to a 
cheerful expression and buoyant disposition. The im- 
provement physically, in some cases almost from the 
beginning, is marked. The chest development of some 
pupils while under treatment has been from three to 
four inches, the gymnastic exercises being well calcu- 
lated to build up and strengthen the tissues and muscles 
that have become weakened through lack of proper 
exercise and use. 

— 195 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 



TERMS OF TUITION 

Our charges in a case of stammering or stuttering 
depend upon the extent of the difficulty, as some 
require much more care and attention than others. 

It is impossible to determine the type and severity 
of any case of stammering or stuttering without first 
obtaining a thorough knowledge of the manifestations 
and indications surrounding it. To enable us to gain 
this knowledge we have prepared a sheet of questions 
known as our " Question Blank," which when properly 
filled in wilJ give a complete chain, leading up to the 
diagnosis of the case. We will be pleased to mail one 
of our "Question Blanks" to any stammerer upon 
request, and upon the return of which, carefully and 
properly filled in, we will pronounce the type of stam- 
mering and quote terms for treatment. No charge is 
made for consultation either by correspondence or 
otherwise. 

OUR GUARANTEE 

We will give a written guarantee of an absolute cure 
in any case of stammering or stuttering when our in- 
structions are followed, and will willingly refund the 
money paid us as tuition, providing we do not fulfill our 
promise. Our instructions are easy to follow, there 
being nothing embodied in our methods of treatment 
or instruction but what can be easily performed and 
carried out by any intelligent person over ten years of 
age. 

— 196—- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 



OUR LOCATION 

Centrally located, easy of access for both Americans 
and Canadians by either rail or water, Detroit, one of 
the most beautiful cities of the United States, offers 
superior advantages as a location for an Institute for 
the cure of stammering. 

The Lewis Phono-Metric Institute and School for 
Stammerers is located at Nos. 37-39-41 Adelaide 
street, just one-half block east of Woodward avenue. 
This location could not possibly be surpassed. The 
Public Reception Hall is a large and commodious room, 
30 feet long by 18 feet wide, and has been especially 
furnished for our pupils. A Private Reception Room, 
a Reading Room, and also a Pupils' Reclining Room 
have all been comfortably provided and add largely to 
the other pleasant surroundings of our Institution. Our 
Business Offices are located in our Main Building, and 
are conveniently located for the transaction of business. 
Special precautionary means have been taken to secure 
the most sanitary equipment possible, toward which pur- 
pose in every room in our Institute we have provided 
highly polished hardwood floors, with floor rugs instead 
of carpets. Separate baths and lavatories have also 
been provided for either sex, thus keeping the apart- 
ments of ladies entirely separate and apart from those 
of the gentlemen of our School. 

The grounds and surroundings of our buildings are 
probably the most beautiful of any private grounds on 
Adelaide street, which in summer-time adds largely to 
the enjoyment of the pupils' visit. 

— 197 — 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

The bedrooms occupied by our pupils are carefully 
and thoroughly cared for by competent service, and 
thus during his entire visit the pupil is made to feel that 
his home is our home and that our home is his. 

The location of our Institute, its pleasant appoint- 
ment, and thorough equipment and adaptation for the 
treatment of stammering, added to the superior advan- 
tages of our School Residence as a home for the comfort 
and accommodation of pupils attending, combine in one 
institution advantages unequaled anywhere else on this 
continent. 

OUR CARE FOR CHILDREN 
While the majority of our patients are adults we, 
nevertheless, have at all seasons of the year a number of 
children in attendance, and for this reason have taken 
special pains to provide comfortably for their wants. 
Parents can rest assured and satisfied that their children 
placed in our care will be well and properly cared for. 
We surround our pupils with wholesome literature and 
moral influences in every respect, and in fact make the 
attention which we give to the younger members of our 
classes one of the important features of our work. 

OUR SUCCESS 
The Lewis Phono-Metric Institute and School for 
Stammerers enjoys a larger regular attendance of 
pupils than any other institution of its kind anywhere. 
It covers more than four times as much floor space as 
any other stammerers' school. It is the only institute 
for the cure of stammering in the world that boards and 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

otherwise provides comfortable accommodations for its 
patrons. It is the only school of its kind so thoroughly- 
equipped for the purpose to which it is adapted. 

The only institution of its kind with a competent and 
experienced staff of instructors. 

It is an institution for the cure of stammering that 
has succeeded from the first, while hundreds of others 
have utterly failed. It can refer to more pupils cured 
than any other institution of its kind in America. 

It is the only institution of its kind that will give a 
written guarantee of an absolute cure. 

The success of the Lewis Phono-Metric Institute and 
School for Stammerers is largely attributable to thor- 
oughness in its methods and uprightness in its business 
principles. 

SCHOOL RESIDENCE AND HOME FOR PUPILS 

The school Residence of the Lewis Phono-Metric 
Institute, a comfortable, homelike dormitory, has been 
arranged for the accommodation of pupils attending, 
and is conveniently situated near the Institute. 

Many pupils who attend our school regret the time 
for their departure, so pleasant has their visit been to 
them. 

The entire class board together, each of the pupils 
being provided with a comfortable room and all the 
accommodations of their own homes at a reasonable 
price. 

Musicales, debates, at homes, etc., given in the par- 
lors, supply evening entertainment for the class, and 

-199- 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

everything that can be done to make it pleasant for the 
pupils is carefully looked after. 

MEETING PUPILS AT THE TRAIN 

Persons unaccustomed to city life need have no 
hesitation about coming to Detroit to attend our In- 
stitute, as we make it a special feature of our work, when 
requested, to meet our pupils at the train upon their 
arrival in the city. Ladies and children are especially 
cared for in this respect, the usual means of identifica- 
tion being a small white bowknot, which the pupil wears 
pinned to the lapel of the coat, and in which way we rec- 
ognize him at once, immediately he steps from the 
train. 

ACCOMMODATION 

The Lewis Phono-Metric Institute is open to receive 
pupils at all seasons of the year, its doors never having 
been closed for more than a day's vacation. Parents 
who desire to be present with their children during 
treatment, or who wish to send a guardian with them, 
will be accommodated in our Institution or may board 
elsewhere, according to their option. As our attend- 
ance at all seasons of the year is usually very large it is 
always well to arrange for accommodation before com- 
ing, thus avoiding inconvenience, disappointment, or 
delay. Our accommodations are first-class in every re- 
spect, including hardwood floors, electric light, and hot 
water heating. Rooms may be engaged separately with 
private bath or in suite. Our prices for accommodation 
are as reasonable as one will find elsewhere in the city. 



REFERENCE AND RECOMMENDATION 



In an effort to make this book an acceptable volume 
for the library and the home we have endeavored as 
far as possible to omit from its contents anything that 
might be judged as advertising in the usually accepted 
meaning of the term. 

We will be pleased to send to any person upon 
request another book containing letters of Recommen- 
dation and Reference which speak in the highest terms 
of the success of our efforts in behalf of the stammerer 
and the reliability of our treatment. In addition to 
strong letters of Recommendation from the Governor of 
Michigan, and the Mayor of Detroit, our Institution 
receives also (as is evidenced by our book of Recom- 
mendations and References) the hearty indorsement 
and support of many well-known Educators, Clergy- 
men, University Professors, Business and Professional 
men everywhere. 

We shall be pleased also to submit by letter to 
persons who desire it the names and addresses of hun- 
dreds of our graduates who are always willing and ready, 
in consideration of their cure and the great benefit they 
have derived from our training, to testify to the merits 



THE ORIGIN AND TREATMENT OF STAMMERING 

of our treatment by promptly replying to any inquiries 
they receive regarding our work. Persons who desire 
to further investigate the merits of our Institution 
should write to us at once for our book of Recom- 
mendations and References. Ask also for a list of 
names and addresses of pupils who have been cured 
under our instruction. 

All business communications pertaining to terms, 
applications, particulars regarding treatment, etc., should 
be addressed directly to our office and will receive prompt 
attention. 

THE LEWIS PHONO-METRIC INSTITUTE 
AND SCHOOL FOR STAMMERERS, 

37-41 Adelaide St., Detroit, Mich. 



Note : If the names and addresses of persons who stammer are fur- 
nished us we shall be pleased to mail them copies of this book without in any- 
way mentioning the source of information. 



THE PHONO-METER 

A monthly devoted exclu- 
sively to the interest of per- 
sons who stammer *& & & 



Edited and Published by 
GEO, ANDREW LEWIS 



The first number ot the Phono-Meter was published 
January ist, 1897, since which time it has appeared 
monthly, and is sent regularly to subscribers in every 
State in the Union and Province of Canada, and in fact to 
all parts of the world. It contains interesting and valuable 
articles on stammering from the pens of the best authori- 
ties and is teeming full of helpful thoughts and suggestions 
suitably adapted for home treatment. 

Considering the small price of subscription, Fifty Cents 
a Year, no stammerer can afford to be without it. Write to- 
day for (free) sample copy. One number may be worth to 
you many times the price of a full year's subscription. 
Address 

GEO. ANDREW LEWIS, 

Editor of the Phono=Meter, 
35=4i ADELAIDE ST., - - - DETROIT, MICH. 



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